Rangers' Tale
by NightStar101
Summary: PRDT...The rangers plan to get Tommy and Kimberly together, and find new and old friends. And learn about love at the same time. TommyKimberley KiraConnor TrentOC JasonHayley EthanCassidyDevin. Set in DT time.
1. Another Pink K

A/N : This is my 1st Power Ranger story, and I'm sorry if it is bad. I don't own the Power Rangers but I won't mind owning some of the female rangers. This story takes place in Reefside during the current season. Take place after Trent becomes the White Ranger (but doesn't become evil). Enjoy! This is the rewrite, just so you know.

Another Pink K

"Students please, clam down." A deep, yet gentle voice said. The voice was that of Tommy Oliver, Reefside High's latest addition to the teaching staff. He stood about 6 foot 2 inches and had semi-spiked black hair. His white lab coat was splattered with a few stains from chemicals, yet it only added to his movie-star appearance.

"Dr. Oliver, may I speak with you?" A woman's voice called out from the door-way. She stood impatiently, tapping her foot and it wasn't hard to see that she didn't enjoy being there.

"Alright, Principal Randall," Tommy replied, nodding to her, before looking back to his class and added in a commanding, yet kind voice. "Please read pages 233 through 239, answer the four questions at the end. I'll be right back for anyone who needs help." He added, before exiting the class room and closing the door, before turning to face the school's Principal.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside of the classsroom Dr. Oliver's students were chatting away about their teacher's leaving. 

"You guys, do you think that Dr. O is in trouble?" A girl asked, turning in her seat at the front of the room to speak with the three boys around her. She unconciously smoothed out the fabric of her yellow clothes, awaiting an answer from her friends.

The first answer she received was from Connor, the jock of the group, who asked her in a confused tone, "Do you think so, Kira?"

"No duh, Connor, I wouldn't've asked if I didn't think so," snapped Kira, giving the boy a slight glare, the hint of red anger and aggrivation in her eyes matching his red soccer uniform.

"Cut it out, you two" A third voice chipped up, this time coming from the boy dressed in all blue sitting between them, not tearing his eyes from his beloved laptop as he spoke.

"Ethan's right you guys, this is not the best time." Added Trent, their fellow student who was situated on the other side of Kira. He looked worried, though also as if he was trying to hide it.

Kira sighed and shrugged. They were right, something important could be happening at that very moment. The time to argue with her Jock friend would be later.

"Oh will you all just stop worrying!" A feminine voice called from the next table over. The boy beside her nodded, fiddling with the video camera in his hand. "Randall just took Dr. Oliver to make out in the hallway" She added with a smirk.

"Ew, Cassidy, I didn't need that mental image" Devin, the boy seated next to her, said, earning a few laughs.

"Shut up, Devin" Cassidy snapped, twisting around in her seat to continue her work.

"Sorry, guys, I'll try to keep her out of your conversations" Devin added quietly to the first group, before turning back and also attempting to work on the assignment.

"Thanks Devin" Ethan said quietly.

"But she is right" Kira added to her friends.

"About what? Randall and Dr. O, making out?" Connor asked, clearly not thinking before he voiced his question.

"No, she meant that we shouldn't worry." Trent said, his soft voice kind and gentle.

"Well, it seems now that the only question left is 'Does Dr. O even have a love life?' And if so, is it with Randall?" Ethan pointed out, still typing away feverishly.

"If it is then I quit!" Connor said, earning a laugh from his friends, which greatfully eased the tension amoung the group.

The group continued chatting away, while the subjects of their inquiries were speaking to each other just outside of the room...

* * *

"How can I help you?" asked Tommy, giving the principal a charming smile. He was struggling to be nice, yet something about her always unnerved him, which made him determined to find out what it was. 

"You could pull out a gun and kill every living thing under twenty in this school." Randall replied with an evil smirk, eyes glinting darkly.

"Sorry, can't really do that, guns out of bullets." Was the only answer he gave, trying to ease the tension from himself by cracking a joke, yet the dark look in her eyes as she spoke prevented him from doing so.

The older woman frowned, obviously not finding him funny. She squared her shoulders and began to speak in a sharp commanding voice. "Well, I have a few questions for you."

Oliver nodded silently as panic shot through him. He was sure her questions wouldn't concern the four students he had been training as Power Rangers, though he could never be sure with Randall. He was prepared with a list of lies if she should ask, yet he had to admit that he was tired of lieing to people, even though the years of it through his own high school years had made him quite good at it.

"Well, I heard from a large number of students, that you have been seen with Connor McKnight, Ethan James, Kira Ford and Trent Fernandez quite often.. Is there something going on that I should know about?" She questioned, keeping her strict tone, as if speaking to a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"No" Tommy said quickly. Nice going Oliver...He thought to himself sarcasticlly. "Well...you see...um..." He began to say, mentally cursing himself as his list of lies escaped him.

"Mr. Oliver, I don't have all day." Randall said sternly, giving him a slight glare.

"Well..." He began, pausing and beginning to speak once again as an idea entered his head."They're working for me."

"Working?" She asked, raising one perfectly plucked eyebrow. After seeing him nod she added suspiciously. "What kind of work, Mr. Oliver?"

"They do little things here and there when I need them. They also help me a lot with my dino research." Tommy said smoothly. Lieing was like a second language to him and he was able to use it flawlessly.

"That better be all" Randall snapped coldly, seeming to know that he was lieing.

"May I return to my class or is there something else?" He asked, slipping his hands into his pockets, easily switching the topic.

"There's one last thing." She said, smoothing out her skirt importantly, as if trying to prove that she was the principal, just incase he thought otherwise. "We've just received a transfer student and at the moment she has your class. I expect for you to take care of her, introduce her to the class, make sure that she has someone to show her to her classes and such."

Tommy nodded. "Naturally." He said softly. "Is she here right now?"

"Kelly." Randall called out, turning her head slightly to look down the hall, where a seven-teen year old girl was standing from.

The girl walked forward, brushing a bit of her dark hair behind her ear, her blue eyes sparkling shyly as she approached. She smoothed out her outfit, which was a bright shade of pink. Tommy gave her a gentle smile, after having paused a moment to think on the color of her outfit. "Come on in, I'll introduce you to the class." He said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. He turned to thank Randall, yet found her gone.

Tommy mentally shook himself, before leading his newest student into the classroom. He smiled as he watched the class relax upon seeing that he was safe. His dark eyes moved to Trent, who gave him a bright smile. Over the short amount that the two had known each other Tommy had become a father figure to look up to and to talk to. If Trent, or any of the kids, ever needed to talk they all knew that Dr O, or Tommy, as they liked to call him when they were alone, he was there for them.

The classes' relaxtion barely had time to settle in, when Cassidy yelled out. "Sir? How was your make-out session with Principal Randall?"

Tommy stood baffled for a moment, before shaking off his surprise and answering her. "Two things, Ms. Cornell. First, I was not 'making out' with Principal Randall and I never will. Second, the topic of my love life is off limits in this class, alright?" He asked with a smile and a raised brow.

"He has a love life?" Connor said quietly, just loud enough for his friends to hear, and once again he earned a laugh from the group.

"Connor, see me after class." Tommy said, faking a stern look as he looked down at the soccer player. He hid a smile as Ethan, Trent and Kira laughed quietly. "And the rest of you as well, seeing as you seem to find this class so funny." Their smiles and laughs faded as he finished, causing Tommy to smile to let them know that he wasn't truly angry with them.

Dr. Oliver cleared his throat and looked to the rest of his class. "As I was about to say before I was interupted, we have a new student. This is Kelly everyone." He said, moving to stand behind her, his hands gently resting on her shoulders as she gave the class a small smile. "Kelly just transferred here, I expect you all to make her feel at home." He added, a gentle warning tone in his voice.

The class nodded and Tommy smiled, looking down to Kelly. "You can take a seat next to Kira and Trent alright, they're right over there." He pointed to the two students he had mentioned and Kelly nodded her thanks, heading over and sitting between the two. "Now, to continue our discussion from yesterday..."

* * *

Ten minutes later the class came to a close and Tommy assigned a bit of homework, before bidding the class good-bye and beginning to pack up his things, not noticing a pair of soft blue eyes watching him. 

"Who is he?" Kelly asked, tearing her eyes from their teacher to look to Kira as the two packed up their bags. True, she had spent fifteen minutes in the class, yet no one had ever mentioned his name, so she was left in the dark as to who her mysterious teacher was.  
"That's Dr. Oliver." Kira said, slipping the strap of her bag onto her shoulder.

Kelly smiled, eyes sparkling brightly. "I'm gonna make him mine.." She whispered determindly to no one in particular. She then turned and left the room, waving a good-bye to her new friends.

Dr. Oliver waited until he was sure that they were alone. He closed the door and looked to Connor. "Your communicator's on." He said simply.

Connor looked down, eyes widening in slight surprise. "So it is...why does that matter though?" He asked in confusion, looking back up to his teacher.

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Smart one." He said sarcasticlly. "He heard what you said about his love life." He added, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh..." Connor said, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, Dr. O." He said quietly.

Tommy nodded in understanding. "It's alright, I know the age..I understand that it's impossible to think that your teachers have lives outside of school. To answer your question, yes, I do have a love life." He sighed quietly, a sad look entering his eyes. "It's just..." He paused, trying to decide on the proper words to use. "hard..very hard.." He added softly.

"Dr. Oliver.." Kira said slowly. "Do you think of us as your students or are we your friends?"

"Friends, Kira." Dr. Oliver said confidently, giving the group a warm smile, the sadness slowly leaving his eyes.

There was a comfortable silence for a few moments before Trent took a stab at finding out more about Tommy's love life. "So..Tommy.." He said carefully, feeling slightly strange calling his teacher by his first name. "As a friend, I'm asking this...Do you have any special 'lady-friend' that we should know about?" He asked with a slight smirk.

Tommy frowned, opening his mouth to answer, yet he paused. He was constantly prying into their lives, even if they didn't realize it, and it would only be fair for him to allow them to know a bit about his. "No.." He said quietly, before clearing his throat and looking to the clock to hide the sorrow in his eyes. "It's getting late, you all should head home." He said gently.

The group nodded, slightly shocked that he had answered. They all said their good-byes, before leaving the room and heading to their lockers before going their separate ways. Connor had soccer practice to go to, Kira had band, Trent had work and Ethan simply wanted to hang out at the café. Though, they all agreed to meet up later at the Cyber-Café.

* * *

Hours later the group sat in the Cyber-Café at various areas. Kira and Kelly sat at a table in the corner, chatting away happily as they sipped their drinks. Connor was struggling with intructions from Ethan and Trent on how to play a new video game that the café had gotten, while Tommy and Hayley chatted away happily. 

"Bye Kira." Kelly said, rising to her feet and grabbing her bag. She headed for the door, meaning to leave, though turned and walked into the bathroom after a second though.

The seond Kelly shut the door Zelyrax and Tyrannodrones appeared out of no where. Connor and Ethan jumped to their feet, the rest soon behind them. Tommy motioned for Hayley to leave, before turning and jumping in to help his friends fight the new arrivals. "Time to morph!" He shouted out.

"Right!" Ethan, Connor, Trent and Kira said in unison. "Dino Power! Power Up!" They called out, before morphing into their respective rangers.

There was a soft gasp from the door way as Kelly returned, completely shocked and confused at what she was seeing, never having seen anything like it ever before. She backed up fearfully as a few Tyrannodrones began to approach her. Trent's eyes widened and he quickly jumped in front of her, fighting off the group of evil beings trying to attack her.

"What're you doing here?" Tommy snapped, glaring over at Zelyrax.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out" Zelyrax answered cockily, looking to one of the Tyrannodrones, who had a pink dino gem.

"Rangers! Get the gem!" Tommy yelled out, watching as Kira jumped forward kicking the Tyrannodrone with the rock. It seem for a moment as if time simply slowed down. The pink rock flew through the air, glowing in the light of the lamps, shining down their artificial light.

"Catch it!" A voice called out, yet in the dead silence it was impossible to tell who. Kelly listened though, not caring who it was. She moved forward and held her hand out, catching the small rock just before it hit into the ground.

For a few minutes no one moved. Kelly stared at the small pink rock in her hand, while everyone else stared at Kelly. Finally she lifted her head, determination shining through her eyes. A Tyrannodrone approached and in one swift movement it was down on the floor and Kelly had moved on to another one to help her friends.

"Looks like we've got another one." Connor said to Ethan, as the two stood back to back, fighting off their enemies.

"Kelly watch out!" Trent called out, spotting a Tyrannodrone coming up fast behind her. She turned to look and quickly lept high into the air, yet instead of coming down, she stayed there, floating in the air a little above everyone's heads. Her eyes widened in surprise, though she held off her questions for the moment, knocking out the Tyrannodrone from behind and landing on the floor once again.

"Hayley!" Tommy called out, ducking as he was swung at. "The pink morpher! Teleport it here, now!" He gave her a smile of thanks as she nodded and soon tossed him the newly teleported pink morpher. "Kelly." He called out.

Kelly paused, turning her head, heart skipping a beat as she looked up to her teacher. He handed her the morpher and gently gave her instructions. "Dino power. Power up. Say it and you can morph like us."

The young girl nodded, taking in a deep breath before saying, "Dino power. Power up!" She gasped softly as she morphed, looking down at her new outfit.

Zelyrax growled. "Come on! There's nothing more we can do now.." And with that the group of evil disappeared and the rangers were left staring in shock and awe at the new member of the group...

* * *

That's the end of the 1st chapter what do you think. Next Chapter- Kelly deal Find out more about Tommy's love life New Relationships start to form. 

I want to thank my new beta, which helped me rewrite this. Kell, you rule. I also want to thank my reviewers- Pink-Ranger-Diva, Flame31, Prinzessin, and DinoThunderRed. Thank for your help and comments to make this a better story.

-Night Star


	2. Another Pink K II

"I'M A WHAT?"

            The rangers had just finished battling off Zelyrax and nearly a dozen Tyrannodrones. The group now stood in the partially destroyed Cyber-Café, trying to explain to Kelly about everything that had just happened. During the battle the young girl had kept herself calm, yet once everything had calmed down she hadn't been able to keep her emotions inside any longer.

            "Calm down, Kell," said Trent gently, resting a hand on her shoulder. He could still remember what it felt like when he had first learned that he was a ranger. His friends had been there to help him and now he wanted to do the same for Kelly.

            He lifted a chair from the ground and helped her to sit down. He kept his hand on her shoulder, watching over her as she breathed deeply and attempted to calm down. "A p-power what?" Kelly asked finally, looking up to the others.

            "A power ranger," stated Hayley calmly. She smiled and continued upon noticing Kelly's confused look. "A crime fighting hero...for lack of a better word."

            "Sounds corny," said Connor with a grin. "Yet, it's true."

            Kelly exhaled deeply, gazing intently at the floor as she lost herself to her thoughts. After a few moments she looked up, blue eyes continuing to sparkle with confusion. She reached up and brushed a bit of hair from her face, nodding slightly, deciding that she believed them. "Ok..." She whispered softly. "But…Why me? Of all people, why me?"

            "It's your destiny," Tommy put in, stepping forward and smiling reassuringly down at his nervous and confused student. "It wasn't us that picked you, it was the gem. You were destined to be a ranger, yet that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be one. If you chose to be a ranger your life will be changed forever, this is your life, Kelly; it's your choice and yours alone."

            Kelly stayed silent, looking as though she wished she could simply disappear into the chair. 

            "You can think about this, we don't need an answer right now," added Tommy. "Take your time." 

            Trent nodded, smiling down at her and squeezing her shoulder gently. Kelly sighed quietly and nodded, biting her lip. After a few more moments of thought she asked, "How long have you guys been…'super heroes'?" complete with air quotes around super heroes.

            "Quite a while, actually..." Ethan said, taking a chair and plopping down in it, though so he was sitting with the back of the chair in front of his chest. He rested his arms on the top of the chair and rested his head on his arms. "Kira, Connor and I were first. Then Dr. O was kidnapped and with Hayley's help we rescued him, resulting in him becoming the black ranger. Trent joined up next and now you." He finished with a tone of finalization in his voice.

            Kelly nodded, trying to make sense of the millions of questions that were swarming her mind. "How'd you get over the fact that you were all of a sudden a power ranger?" She asked, turning her last two words over in her mind, still in slight shock.

            "You get used to it." Kira put in, lifting her guitar from the table it had been resting on and strumming a few cords. "At first I didn't want to be one, I actually gave my gem to Connor and Ethan...though in the end I changed my mind…"

            Connor nodded in agreement, stepping forward to tell his own story. "I was about to quit to join a soccer team...though I ended up saving this little girl, who I had seen playing soccer in the park...and after that I decided that saving lives was more important to me than playing soccer."

            Kelly nodded before turning her head, looking to Trent who had just spoken up from behind her. "I didn't have many problems with it when I first joined." He said quietly, thinking back to the fateful day when he had become a ranger. 

            "Why's that?" Kelly asked quietly, brow furrowing in confusion.

            Trent smiled warmly down at her. "Because I had my friends to help me through it, as do you." He told her gently.

            Kelly smiled, looking over to the only ranger who hadn't spoken up. "And you, Dr. Oliver?" She asked quietly.

            The oldest ranger sighed quietly and looked around, not wanting anyone to come in and overhear their discussion. "It's a long story…" He said quietly. "I'll show you once we get back to the Ranger Lab."

            Once again Kelly frowned in confusion. "The what?" She asked, rising to her feet and brushing a bit of dirt and dust from her clothes that had come onto her clothing during the fight.

            "His house." Hayley put in, teasingly rolling her eyes at Tommy. She understood him better than most, having lived with him for six months and known him for even longer. She knew almost too well that he tended to either let out too much or too little, yet little personality quirks like that only caused her feelings for him to grow fonder.

            Thirty minutes later the group was settling in to the Ranger Lab hidden inside of Dr. Oliver's house. Hayley was silently leaning against the wall, watching along with everyone else, as Tommy paced the floor.

            "Where to begin...where to begin..." He muttered to himself.

            "Why not show her the movie?" Ethan suggested, referring to the one that they had earlier showed to Trent and that he, himself, had watched after Dr. Oliver had gone missing.

            "Hayley? Love? Could be a dear and put it on?" Tommy asked, a hint of playfulness in his voice as he spoke with his friend. He appreciated her company more than anyone knew. The other rangers were wonderful, yet around them he had to act the part of mentor. With Hayley, he could play and tease without feeling as though he'd be setting a bad example.

            "Hm?" asked Hayley, shaking her head as she pulled herself from her daydreams. "Oh...right, hold on." She added with a smile, slipping between the rangers and quickly getting the movie up, before returning to her resting place.

            Kira leaned back in the chair that she and Kelly were sharing, already having seen the movie twice before. Her mind and eyes began to wander, eventually settling on Dr. Oliver. She studied his face and expressions, soon noticing a strange behavior coming from her teacher. Each time that the first pink ranger, Kimberly, was on the screen Dr. O would smile. His took on a slightly lonely and longing look as he watched, though seeing Kimberly also brought laughter to his sad eyes. Kira made a mental note to speak about this to her fellow rangers.

            While Kira' eyes were on Dr. Oliver, Kelly's were stuck on the screen as the movie continued playing. She couldn't believe how many rangers had come before her and she was sure that there were many to come after her. She turned her head and looked up to her teacher. He had been a ranger for a many years of his life and he didn't seem to regret his choice in the slightest. He turned and looked down at the group and Kelly could see pride shining through his eyes, yet she also saw something else...something that she didn't like…

            The movie ended minutes later and Tommy's eyes moved to Kelly. "Well, Kelly? What do you think? Have you come to a decision?" He asked gently, prepared to give her more time if she needed it.

            Kelly nodded, squaring her shoulders and looking quite sure of herself. "I want to be a ranger." She said in a confidence voice.

            Tommy smiled and opened his mouth to speak, yet he was interrupted as the phone rang. "I'll get that." He said with a smile, before turning around and disappearing up the stairs.

            Kira rose from her chair, crossing the room and making sure that he was really gone, before she turned and faced her friends. "Hayley?" She asked, looking over to the other woman. "Did the rangers...like…you know…ever date each other?" She slowly said, as the other rangers suddenly turned to look at Hayley, each one wanting to hear the answer for their own reasons.

            Hayley nodded, continuing to lean back against the wall, arms crossed over her chest as she spoke. "It was easier to date someone from team...less lying involved when they needed to fight. It was also good supportive wise; for each understood the pressure the other was under. Some went out for short periods, others for longer...some were even married."

            "What about Dr. Oliver?" Trent asked, unknowingly speaking the question that was on the minds of all of the rangers.

            Hayley nodded once again. "Oh yeah...he had his share of relationships. His first was with Kimberly...From what I've heard they were quite close, yet she moved away and they broke things off. Kat took her place for a while, yet they broke things off too because Tommy's heart belonged to someone else."

            "What next?" Connor asked, eyes wide with curiosity, like a child in a candy store.

            "After they broke up Kat called her friend and fellow ranger, Jason. They were married and had a child, Julie – she's five now. Kat died a few years ago...brain cancer.  Jason and Julie moved in with Tommy for a year and he helped them cope with her death…As for Kim, though, no one really knows. She and Tommy met up last year at Trini's funeral; she was the first yellow ranger. The two had promised to talk, yet she left before they had a chance to." Hayley finished up, sounding as if she hadn't wanted to go into the subject at all.

            "Tommy still has feeling for her," said Kira quietly.

            "No, he doesn't!" Hayley snapped, cheeks flushing slightly and eyes flashing.

            "Yes he does..." Kelly put in softly, hugging her knees to her chest. "Didn't you see him when he was watching the movie?"

            Ethan nodded, looking deep in thought. "He did look happier when she was on the screen...I thought it was just me though..."

            "Sounds like Dr. O still digs this ranger chick," said Connor, the gears turning in his mind as things began to click together.

            "Connor." Kira muttered, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

            "Ok, ok." Connor replied, holding his hands up in surrender. "Anyway, what're we going to do about this?"

            "We have to hook them up, of course," answered Kelly, a slight hint of shyness in her voice. She still didn't know Connor, Ethan or Hayley that well and if it hadn't been for Kira and Trent, whom she was closer with, she wouldn't've even spoken up about her opinion.

            "I thought you liked him..." Kira whispered quietly to her friend, Kelly having already confided in Kira about her feelings for their teacher.

            "Sometimes it's necessary to put other people's feelings before your own." Kelly replied softly.

            Kira smiled and nodded in slight admiration. She took a moment to think of her own crush and she knew that she couldn't've made such a decision as Kelly had just done. This crush was her second in the past few months, the first being Trent. She and Trent had gone out quite a few times before, yet in the end they had decided that things were better when they were simply friends.

            "I'm happy as long as he's happy." Kelly added, running her fingers through her hair, still mentally trying to convince herself that she was doing the right thing.

            "So..." Trent said, after a few moments of silence. "What's the plan?"

            "Are you kids sure that you want to do this?" asked Hayley, looking slightly uneasy. Her thoughts were the opposites of Kelly's, for she believed that if Tommy couldn't be hers, then he couldn't be anyone's.

            "Of course...why wouldn't we?" Ethan wondered aloud, brow furrowing slightly in confusion.

            "I mean..." Hayley began slowly; trying to phrase her words so that the group didn't catch on that she had quite a strong attraction for everyone's favorite doctor. "Are you sure that Tommy really wants this? Are you sure that this won't be opening old wounds that he'd prefer to leave along?"

            "Hayley." Kira began, sounding as if she was speaking to a small child that refused to see reason, which wasn't too far from the truth of the situation. "I saw the look in Dr. Oliver's eyes…he loves her...I know that look..." She said, voice steadily growing quieter as she trailed off.

            "And how would you know, Kira?" Connor asked, leaning forward with a teasing smirk on his face, eyes sparkling mischievously.

            "That's for me to know and for you to find out," said Kira with a laugh, a smile lighting up her face as she held down a blush.

            "Are you implying that you want me to find out?" Connor questioned, smile widening. 

            Ethan cleared his throat loudly, half glaring at the two. "Focus you two; we're talking about Dr. O's love life, not Kira's."

            Tommy entered the room once more as Ethan finished speaking. "What was that about 'Dr. O's love life'?" He asked, a hint of amusement in his sparkling eyes.

            "Nothing." Trent said, quickly thinking of a way to change the topic. "Who was on the phone?"

            Tommy looked to Hayley, remembering why he had returned to them. "It's for you Hayley...it's your mum. She said it's really important." He said, frowning slightly, the amusement leaving his eyes.  Hayley nodded, biting her lip and rushing from the room to go to the phone. Tommy turned back to the rangers, trying to rid himself of the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. "So...as you were saying. What was it you were all talking about while I was gone?"

            "We were learning a bit of ranger history from Hayley." Connor put in, tilting back in his chair, so the chair was only standing on its back two legs. 

            "Connor." Tommy scolded gently, smiling as Connor set the chair right. "I thought you said that you were talking about my love life." He added, looking to Ethan.

            "We were." Kira said, a sparkle of mischief in her eyes as she spoke.

            Tommy opened his mouth to ask another question, before realization dawned on him. "Ah..." He whispered quietly. "Learn anything of interest?" He questioned, a bit of suspicion in his voice.

            "Of course, Dr. O," replied Ethan with a laugh. "Your entire life is interesting."

            Tommy shook his head in disagreement. "No it isn't..." He said slowly.

            "Dr. Oliver." Kira began kindly, though with a raised brow as if to say 'Who are you trying to kid?'. "You've been a power ranger for many years… including this one."

"And you've been four different colors, not including the time when you were the evil green ranger." Kelly put in with a soft smile.

            Connor nodded, clearing his throat softly before putting in his own bit. "You created ugly dino robots that ended up turning against you."

            "And put together a new team of rangers, while maintaining a love life...to a degree." Ethan added with a grin.

            "And you're a super hero." Trent pointed out obviously, laughing slightly.

            "We're all super heroes, kids." Tommy said, crossing his arms over his chest as he smiled down at them.

            "You get what we mean though." Kira said, rolling her eyes once again.

            Tommy nodded. "Indeed I do. Yet, I'm not the only ranger with a love life, you know. There were many others aside from me, like Ashley and Andros, Jason and Kat, Jen and Alex…and, of coarse, we can't forget Kira and Trent, no matter how short lived it was." He added with a laugh, as Kira and Trent blushed, each looking to the floor.

            "Things didn't work out; I don't think that should count." Kira said in her own and Trent's defense.

            "True, yet it happened, so I believe I does count to some degree…don't worry though, I'm sure that won't be the last ranger couple in this group." Tommy added, a small smirk on his face and a sparkle in his eyes.

            "What?"  The rangers, excluding Tommy, shouted in unison, all staring at him wide-eyed.

            "You heard me," said Tommy, laughing as he watched them. The group silenced, all avoiding each other's eyes and all blushing to some degree. Footsteps sounded as Hayley walked down the stairs and all the rangers looked up in surprise as they noticed the tears in her eyes. "Hayley? What is it? What's wrong?" Tommy asked, quickly rushing over to her.

            "M-my sister..." Hayley whispered, pausing as he approached her. She bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.

            "What happened?" Trent asked, worry filling his voice. He rose to his feet and walked over, standing beside Tommy, heart catching in his throat as he watched her. Hayley was more than a boss to him, she was like the mother he never had and it frightened him to see her so upset.

            Hayley took a moment to answer. She closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths before saying quietly. "She and her husband have been in a car accident…"

            "Are they alright?" Connor questioned quietly, voice barely above a whisper as he spoke to her.

            "I don't know..." Hayley said, reopening her eyes and looking up at Tommy. The two looked at each other for a long time, Tommy's understanding and sympathetic eyes boring in Hayley's sorrowful ones. Finally it was too much for her and she broke down, falling to her knees and sobbing uncontrollably.

A/N: That's it for this chapter. Tell me what you think. Ok, I want to know what you guys think I should do with Devin.  I have a story line for everyone expect him. I don't want to leave him out. If you have any ideas tell me. I don't want to add any new people plus the person I'm adding next chapter. I promise no more rangers. I want to know if you guys want to see more "rangers" scenes or keep it to their personal life.  

Beta Comments: 

To the writer – You are a great writer; don't ever doubt that you're not. You've got amazing ideas in that crazy little head of yours and I can't wait to see more. I'm really honored to be betaing your work, you've made me really happy and I think it's helping me mentally too...writing this has been a good thing, because it helps me to unwind and get stress free, which is what I need. Thanks so much, I love you, baby. ^-^ (AN: She is more of a co-writer then a beta and is a good one at that.)

To Flame31 – Thanks, I'm glad that you liked it. Don't worry, we're going to make sure that Kelly isn't perfect, she'll have her flaws and they'll come out more as the story moves on. She hit it off pretty well with Trent and Kira, which we believe to be pretty realistic.  Yet, we'll make sure that she isn't 'buddy buddy' with Ethan and Connor just yet. We'll also make sure not to make her better with drawing, computers, soccer or at singing/playing the guitar. I hope you continue to read, your comments mean a lot to us and they help to make the story better. Thanks again, love ya ^-^ (AN: She will have her own thing, writing, which you will see in the next chapter.)

To everyone else – Please read and review. I'd like to know what you think of the story and how we can better it. Your support means a lot to us. Thanks, love you guys! ^-^

Next Chapter: An Ally's Sorrow

Finds out what happens to Hayley's sister and brother-in-law,

New person,

Old Friends come to visit…


	3. An Ally's Sorrow

"Tommy?" Trent called out, filling a glass with cold water and handing it to the customer who had ordered it. "When is Hayley coming back?" He asked, wiping his hands dry on a near-by towel, before moving onto another customer. Trent and Tommy had been running the café since Hayley left. The two loved working in the café, yet they both missed Hayley terribly.

Tommy smiled as he heard Trent's question. "Tonight." He said, a hint of happiness in his voice. He paused in sweeping up the floor and glanced back to Trent. "Would you and the others like to come with me? I'm sure that they're all just as concerned about her as we are."

Trent grinned and nodded, eyes sparkling happily. "I'd love to go." He said excitedly. "I'll be seeing them all in a while. I need to pick up Kira from band practice and we were going to go and watch Connor, he's got a game at the school. Ethan and Kelly are already there, they have clubs. So I can talk to them all there."

Tommy nodded, checking his watch. "You should get going, her practice ends soon." He added, running a wet cloth over the counter to wash it. Over the short time that Oliver had known the group, he had grown extremely close to all of them. He knew their schedules even better than his own. "I'll close up and be there for the second half of the game, tell Connor I'm sorry that I couldn't make the first half."

"You got it, Doc." Trent saluted Tommy and placed his rag on the counter, before taking out his keys and heading towards the door.

Dr. Oliver sighed quietly as he heard the door closer. He still couldn't believe that Karen and Keith were gone. He had only met Hayley's sister and brother-in-law once, and that was a few years ago. Yet, they had been nice all the same. What made matters worse was that the two had a son, Allen or something along the lines. Tommy couldn't even imagine what the poor kid was going through and he hated to think of what Hayley was putting herself through. Hayley and her sister had been six years apart, though they had been as close as anything.

Tommy had never lost a sister or a mother, though he had lost two of his close friends and that counted just the same. The first had been with his ex-girlfriend and teammate, Kat. He had never had the proper time to grieve her, for he was too busy worrying about Jason and Julie. The second friend he had lost had been Trini. They had grown close from their common interest of karate, caring about Kim and their roles as rangers. She had been a wonderful friend and it had hurt him beyond words when she had died. He hated to think of what it was like to lose a mother or a sister.

A few tears entered Tommy's dark eyes, though he quickly blinked them away. He had to be strong for Hayley, for Trent, for everyone…

At the soccer field…

Connor felt a pang of jealousy rise up inside of him as he watched Kira and Trent walk up the field. He sent a wave over to them, pushing his feelings away, as he headed over to them. He grinned as he spotted Ethan exiting the school and walking over to them as well.

"Hey you guys." Ethan said once they were finally all together, smiling as they all replied in a happy 'hi'.

"Where's Kelly?" asked Kira suddenly, noticing that the newest ranger hadn't exited the school with Ethan.

"Her club let's out later than mine, she said she'd come as soon as she could." Ethan explained, frowning slightly as he noticed Connor looking slightly upset. "Something wrong?"

Connor sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "It's just Kelly I guess…" He said softly, knowing better than to lie to his friends. They'd find out eventually, it was better if he just told them. "We just met her and we're already doing everything together…"

Kira frowned, placing her hands on her hips. "She just moved here, Connor, it's not like she has anyone else. Plus, she needs our help; we know a lot more about being rangers than she does."

"I know, I know…it's just-" Connor began to say, though he was cut off by a cough from Trent.

"Chill, Connor...here she comes." Trent added softly, smiling in greeting to Kelly, who joined the group moments later.

"Hi guys, what's up?" Kelly asked, eyes sparkling brightly as she looked around at the group as they greeted her, all except for Connor that was.

Kira sent a small glare Connor's way before looking to Kelly. "How'd your writing club go?" She asked, eyes glittering with happiness. Hayley was wonderful, yet it was nice finally having a girl her own age around.

Kira's face lit up happily as her club was mentioned. "It was great, the people here are so nice and inviting, just like you guys. I can't thank you enough for all you've done." She added, smiling shyly up at them all, causing Connor's eyes to avert to the ground – feeling horrible about what he had said earlier.

Trent smiled back, opening his mouth to say something before he remembered what Tommy had asked him to do. "Hey, guys, Dr. O is going to pick up Hayley after the soccer game. He wanted to know if any of you guys wanted to tag along?"

"Of course." Was the unanimous reply from everyone but Kelly.

"Kell? What about you?" Trent asked, looking over to her, frowning slightly as he noticed that she hadn't answered his question like everyone else.

Kelly opened her mouth to answer, though Connor interrupted her with a quick, "Did you just call her by a nick-name?"

"Yeah...so what if I did?" Trent asked, a hint of anger in his normally calm voice

"Just shut up, Connor." Ethan snapped, sensing that Connor was itching for a chance to yell at someone.

Connor frowned and growled softly. "Am I always the one who's wrong?" He asked, speaking mostly to himself.

"Yes." said Ethan, Trent and Kira in unison, earning a quiet laugh from Kelly.

Kira smiled, turning her head to look at Kelly. "So, Kell, is it a yes or a no?"

The dark haired girl sighed softly and shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know you guys…"

"Why not?" Trent asked, looking slightly hurt. "Please come...I really want you to go."

Kelly sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Trent…I just can't deal with death again." She whispered.

"Again?" Ethan asked, frowning in confusion, brow furrowing together.

Kelly sighed, brushing some hair from her face. "Can we not talk about it?"

"If you don't want to." said Connor, shrugging slightly.

Trent bent his head to whisper softly to Kelly. "If you ever need to talk to someone…just know that I'm here, ok?" He asked quietly, knowing how it felt to lose someone.

Kelly nodded, looking up to him and smiling slightly. "Thanks, Trent…"

"McKnight!" The shout rang across the field, reaching the ears of the group. "Chat on your own time. We're starting!" The coach yelled.

"Be right there, coach." Connor shouted back, before turning to his friends. "I gotta get going you guys, I expect to hear cheers when I'm kicking butt."

"Sure, Connor." Kira said, a tint of sarcasm in her voice as she gave him a gentle push towards his team.

"Ok coach, I'll be right there." He turned to his coach, and then to turned back to his friends. "You guys, I have to go. Watch me kicking there butt."

"We will" Kira replied

Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Oliver headed onto the field just as the referee was blowing the whistle for the second half to start. He walked up silently behind the rangers sitting in the stands. He bent down low and yelled, "Boo!"

The group jumped and Kelly let out a shout of surprise as they turned around to look back at Tommy. Ethan laughed and nodded, saying, "Nice on, Dr. O."

"But, Dr. O, you're a teacher…doesn't that mean no fun?" Kira pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Where on earth did you hear that?" Tommy asked, taking a seat and looking at the group.

"It's the law." Kelly put in, eyes sparkling playfully as she looked over at her teacher.

"I'm a law-breaker." Tommy said with a smirk.

Trent shook his head as he said, "No, you're not."

Tommy grinned, turning back to the game. "How was the first half?"

"It's been pretty good so far…Connor scored a goal and blocked a few shots...They're winning, three to two." Kira explained, hugging her knees to her chest as she watched the game with a happy expression, though fifteen minutes later she was anything but happy…..

"Oh my god..." Kira whispered, jumping to her feet as she watched Connor fall to the ground. "Connor!" She shouted, leaping from her seat and rushing onto the field, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. She fell to her knees beside him. "Oh my god…are you alright?"

Connor forced a smile and reached up, brushing away her tears. "Stop crying..." He whispered softly, ignoring the pain he was feeling, just wanting her to stop crying. "It's just my leg…hurts like hell, but I'll be fine…"

"Someone call 9-1-1!" The coach yelled.

"I already did." Tommy answered, rushing over and coming to a stop behind Kira.

"And you are?" Connor's coach asked, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"Dr. Thomas Oliver, I'm a teacher her." The dark haired man explained.

"Ah." answered the coach. "Well thank you for calling."

Tommy nodded, "No problem…" He said softly, worried for his student and teammate. "I'll go to the hospital with him..." He added in an after thought.

The coach nodded, shooing away the other players, who were beginning to crowd around him and Tommy, wondering what was going on. "Tell him to give me a call as soon as he can." He added, nodding before turning and following his slowly retreating players.

"Dr. O!" Ethan called out, rushing over. "The ambulance is here, they just loaded Connor and Kira in, they're waiting for you before they go." He added, panting softly, having run across the field.

Tommy nodded, beginning to quickly head to the ambulance. "Are you all coming?" He asked, as Kira reached out a hand. He took her hand and pulled himself up into the ambulance, looking down at Ethan, who nodded.

"I'm gonna take Connor's car, Trent's taking Kelly in his." He explained, holding up the keys to Connor's car.

Dr. O nodded, beginning to close the doors. "Meet you there." He said quickly, before the doors closed on him and the ambulance sped off, sirens sounding.

At the Hospital…

"He's going to be fine, Kira, don't worry." Tommy's assured voice told his young team mate.

Kira looked up at him, eyes sparkling with worry and unshed tears. "You sure?" She asked in a shaky voice.

Tommy was silent for a few moments. He hated to lie and let her know that he truly had no idea what he was talking about. Yet, he couldn't tell her the truth of the matter. He had to be strong for her and for the others. He put on a confident face, masking his fear with a nod. "Yes, Kira, I'm positive." He said in a firm tone, hoping for the best.

Kira bit her lip, tears beginning to fall from her glittering eyes. "I'm so scared, Dr. O…" She whispered softly.

"Come here." Oliver said gently, pulling her into a warm embrace, as if she were more of a sister than a student to him.

Whilst Tommy was comforting Kira, Kelly's eyes were scanning the waiting room. Her eyes rested on Ethan, who had been pacing back and forth ever since they arrived, before moving onto Trent, whom was sitting in silence, staring worriedly at the floor. Kelly sighed and brushed some hair from her face. She wasn't sure how to feel, having only met Connor a week ago. She was horribly worried about him, yet not in the same way as the others were. Kelly wanted to be as worried as they were, yet she simply couldn't….She watched as Trent's head snapped up at the sound of the doctor's footsteps.

"How is he?" Was the first question, coming from Tommy. He gently released Kira and moved forward, taking on his usual role as leader of the group.

The doctor gave them all a kind smile before speaking. "He's fine. There's a small break in his leg, yet nothing that can't be fixed in good time. He mentioned that his parents were out of town, I take it that one of you will bring him home?"

Tommy nodded. "Of coarse..." He said quietly. "Is he free to go tonight?"

The doctor nodded, scribbling something down on his clip board. "Of course, I'll go get him for you."

The doctor turned and left the group, smiling as he heard Kira let out a soft shout of happiness. "Thank god he's alright." She said happily, looking quite relieved.

Tommy laughed and smiled, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I told you." He teased lightly, acting as if he had known the entire time that Connor would be fine.

Kira smiled and laughed. "I know…I had hoped before, but now that I'm sure I feel so much better…"

"Aw." A deep voice said from behind them. "Kira, you really do care!"

The female ranger turned, gasping in surprise as she spotted Connor. There was a cast on his leg and he was using crutches to walk, though other than that he looked fine. "Connor!" She shouted happily, rushing over to him. She threw her arms around him and held him close, not caring if he saw how much she had been worried.

Connor laughed, balancing one of his crutches against his side and wrapping an arm around his fellow ranger. After a few moments he cleared his throat, smiling down at Kira. "Um...you know, this is great an' all...but...could you let go now?" He asked, laughing once again.

"Sorry..." The blonde replied, releasing her friend and taking a step back. "I just was so worried…"

There was a comfortable silence between the two, as they simply stood and smiled shyly over at each other. Tommy finally cleared his throat and all eyes turned to him. "Sorry to break that up, I just really need to be getting to the airport to get Hayley. And if anyone's coming with me we'll need to go soon."

"Everyone but Kelly was gonna go." Trent explained, shooting a small look to the girl in pink before his gaze returned to Tommy.

"Right..." Dr. O said, nodding. "Connor, I want you to stay at my house while your parents are out of town – you shouldn't be left alone when you're hurt. Kira, would you mind going and helping to take care of him while we're gone?"

Kira nodded to say that she'd go and Thomas smiled. "Thanks, you know where my bedroom is – take him in there. And make sure he eats something." He added before looking to Kelly. "Since Kira can't drive I'm going to need to ask you to drop them off there…are you doing anything tonight?"

Kelly shook her head, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. "Nope." She said softly, a small smile on her face – glad to be able to do something to help.

"Would you mind hanging in the basement and watching the town?" Tommy asked her gently, grinning as she agreed. He glanced up to the last two. "Trent, Ethan. You two ready?"

The boys nodded and Tommy smiled. "Great...we'll be off then. Take care Connor..." He called, heading for the doors with Trent and Ethan trailing along behind him.

AN: This again is a 2 part episode like the last one. Next we see what is new with Hayley, what Kelly uncovers in Tommy's computer, what happen to Connor and Kira, and the promise visit from an old friend and plus we get to Ethan getting yelled at by someone in airport..

BN: WHHEEEEEEEE! "Spiffy" chapter! I apologize that this took so long to get up. It was sent to me a long while ago and I've been steadily working on it, though I haven't had as much time as I would like to work on it. I'll try to get chapters up faster in the future. Feedback is appreciated!

You know what to do now, hit the review button below this and tell me what you think.


	4. An Ally's Sorrow II

There was a soft cackling sound from the ceiling and soon a woman's perky voice could be heard over the intercom. "Flight 723 has just arrived; we apologize for any inconvenience the delay has cause to you and yours."  
  
"Finally!" Ethan said, throwing his hands into the air and rising to his feet. They had been waiting for over an hour for the plane to arrive, all because of a crazy delay all the way in Newark, New Jersey!  
  
Trent laughed, cheeks flushing slightly as people turned to stare at his loud friend. Tommy simply smiled, continuing to flip through the magazine he was reading. "You've obviously never been on a plane, Ethan. We still have another thirty minutes to wait before Hayley shows up."

* * *

Kira paused at the front door of her professor's house, looking back at her two friends. "Are we all set?" She asked, looking over all of their belongings. The group had needed to make quite a few pit stops along the way, first at Kelly's house, so she could pick up her homework, then to Kira's for the same and finally to Connor's house to pick up some clothes and an empty book bag which he claimed to hold his homework.  
  
Kelly's deep eyes scanned her belongings and she nodded. "Yup, I've got everything I need." She said softly.  
  
The yellow clad girl nodded and looked to Connor. "What about you?" She asked, failing an attempt to mask the worry in her voice  
  
"Fine, sweetie." Connor teased, eyes sparkling as he awaited her reaction.  
  
Kira was silent for a moment, taken back by her friend's comment. "Um..right then..good..." She said, shaking her head and acting as if nothing had happened. She turned and began to open the door, her fellow female ranger shifting awkwardly as she watched the two.

* * *

Mesogog angrily paced the floor, glaring at the two in front of him. "We need to find a way to kill those stupid rangers!" He yelled, slamming his fist down as he looked down at Zeltrax and Elsa.  
  
"I want to be the one to kill the Black Ranger," Zeltrax said, stepping forward as he spoke to his 'boss'.  
  
"Then why haven't you already?" Mesogog snapped, eyes narrowing. "Time and time again you were given the chance, yet you failed each and every time! Why! Explain that to me!"  
  
"M-master...I..."  
  
"You what?" Came the harsh reply. "You know what? Just shut up, I don't even care anymore."  
  
Elsa stayed silent as she observed, before she finally turned her eyes to look at Zeltrax. "Why is it you hate him so much?"  
  
"Why do you care?" Zeltrax snapped, turning his head sharply to look at her.  
  
"Are you blind, Elsa? It's obvious that he's jealous." Mesogog said, the eyes of the other two once again returning to him.  
  
Elsa hid a confused look as she opened her mouth to question him. "Jealous of what?"  
  
'Of you, of course!" Upon seeing Elsa's confusion Mesogog continued. "He's jealous that _Mr. Oliver_ gets to see you all day long, while he's cooped up here by himself."  
  
"I am not!" Zeltrax hissed out.  
  
"Of coarse you're not." Mesogog said, sarcasm livid in his voice as he turned and began to leave, Zeltrax following – leaving a confused Elsa behind.  
  
'_But we aren't together_...' She thought to herself. '_Not anymore at least_...'

* * *

"Ok, Kira, I'm gonna go downstairs, ok?" Kelly said, brushing a stray strand of dark hair from her face. "You go on upstairs and take care of your man."  
  
Kira nodded, trying to hide her blush. "Sure..you gonna be ok?"  
  
"I'll be fine." Was the answer she received. "You know where to find me if you need me. Bye Connor!" She added to the boy in the corner. He nodded, continuing to look over his things to make sure that he hadn't forgot something.  
  
"So...guess it's just you and me now.." Connor said, smiling over at Kira as Kelly's footsteps faded away.  
  
"Guess so, soccer boy." Kira smirked slightly. "Come on, let's get you upstairs."  
  
Connor groaned. "Don't remind me...I can't play soccer for a month.." He paused, thinking things over. "Wait a minutes, that means I can't be a ranger either. I can't let Dr. O down like that..what am I going to do?"  
  
A small comforting hand rested on his shoulder and he looked up. "It's ok to be ok, I promise." Kira said with a smile. "I'm here for you.."  
  
"Thanks, Kira. You're the best." Connor fought to keep eye contact with her though he couldn't and his eyes moved to the floor. There had been something going between them in those brief seconds. Something rare and strong that had scared him.  
  
"I think we should be getting upstairs now.." Kira whispered, her eyes on the ground. She had felt it too and she was terrified of what it could mean...

* * *

"Now, Alex, you need to behave. A good friend of mine is going to be picking us up."  
  
"Pfft..like I care." Alex retorted.  
  
"Alex." A stern voice said.  
  
"What-ever, Aunt Hayley." He rolled his caramel coloured eyes.  
  
Hayley sighed. "Just be good..." She said softly, scanning the airport. "There he is." She raised her hand, pointing out Dr. Oliver.  
  
"What did he used to be a model or something?" Alex asked, raising a brow. '_He can't be a science teacher_...' He thought to himself. '_Science teachers are old and boring...not magazine models_...' He brushed a strand of his dark brown hair from his face and looked up to his Aunt. "Who're the two bozos next to him?"  
  
"Umm.." Hayley looked over to Tommy once more, smiling slightly as she saw the two rangers resting loyally at his side. "Trent and Ethan."  
  
"And they are?"  
  
Hayley took a moment to answer, trying to decide how she could describe the relationship between the three. "Well," She began slowly. "Trent works for me and _Hayley's Cyberspace_ is practically Ethan's second home." Aside from the Dino Lab, though she didn't voice that.  
  
"And how does that explain why they're here?" Alex asked, a slightly rude and snotty tone in his voice.  
  
Hayley smiled, ignoring her nephew's tone. "Trent and I are quite close. He was worried when I left so he most likely just wants to see if I'm alright. Ethan works for Tommy, seeing as Tommy came here he most likely just wanted to come along."  
  
Alex let out an exasperated sigh. "If you say so.."  
  
Hayley let out a sigh. It was going to be a long day. "Come along." She said, beginning to head towards the three rangers, who seemed to be talking amongst themselves.  
  
"Look, Dr. O!" Trent said excitedly from the other side of the airport. "Here she comes."  
  
"And she's not alone.." Ethan slowly responded, nodding to the boy trailing behind her.  
  
"No..she's not.." Trent frowned in slight confusion.  
  
"Do either of you know about him?" Ethan questioned, looking to Trent, who shook his head 'no'. His eyes moved to his teacher as he began to answer.  
  
"No.." Tommy said slowly. "I guess she left out that little detail over the phone this morning...Here they come, though. behave you too.." He added before moving forward and embracing Hayley. "Welcome home."  
  
Hayley smiled. "Hey Tommy." She said softly, slightly taken aback by his action, even though she had accepted it. "Trent, Ethan.." She added as an afterthought.  
  
"Hello, Hayley...you gonna introduce us to your..um..friend?" Ethan asked, searching for the right word to call the boy behind Hayley.  
  
The woman smiled, stepping to the side and wrapping her arm around Alex' shoulders. "Tommy, Ethan, Trent.." She began, looking to each of them in turn as she said their name. "This is Alex, my nephew. He's going to be staying with me from now on..." Her eyes drifted over to her old friend, hoping for his approval – which would insure that she had done the right thing.  
  
Tommy smiled, looking to the boy. "Welcome to Reefside, Alex." He said softly. He was pleasantly surprised that Hayley had taken him in, though it was expected. Hayley loved her family and would do absolutely anything for them.  
  
"Hey little guy, what's up?" Trent said with a smile, sounding as if he was talking to the small child.  
  
Alex straightened slightly, rising to his full height of 5'4". "How old do you think I am? Two?"  
  
"Well, how old are you?" Ethan wondered aloud.  
  
"Fourteen...hopefully you can count that high. I'm only three years younger than you." Alex retorted. He knew that he wasn't making the best first impression and he knew that he could've done better, though he was in no mood to try.  
  
Trent instantly felt bad for the way he had spoken to Alex, having mistaken the boy for being much younger than he actually was. "Well..would you like some ice cream? Maybe that'll put a smile on your face.." He said hopefully.  
  
"You want a smile on my face?" Alex raised a brow once more, frowning deeply. "Are you an idiot? Do you even have a brain? My parents just died! Do you really think that a little ice cream will make me happy?" He exploded, clenching his fists. "You don't know the first thing about what I've been through!"  
  
"You think I don't know what that feels like? To lose my parents?" Trent asked, eyes narrowing slightly. "For your information I lost both of mine when I was your age. You're lucky enough to have a family member to go and live with – rather than some ugly guy who simply worked your parents. Hayley loves you and she's going to have to give up a lot to be able to take care of you, yet she's willing to do that. My so-called 'dad' just wants me to take over his company. If you think that you can go around telling me that I don't know about the hell you're going though, you better think again." He yelled back, ignoring the looks from the others in his group and a few other random onlookers.  
  
Tommy coughed softly, placing a hand on each boy's shoulder. "Ok you guys, let's stop this now. Why don't we just go back to the car?" He asked, hoping that the two wouldn't stay angry with each other for too long, seeing as they would be spending quite a lot of time with each other.  
  
Hayley gave him a smile of thanks. "Sure. Alex, you and I can ride with Tommy. Trent, you and Ethan take the bags in your car ok?" She said, thankful that they had two cars. Trent and Alex both meant so much to her, she hated to see them fighting.  
  
Ethan nodded, forcing a small smile. "Right, good idea, Hayley." He said, also hoping that Trent and Alex wouldn't fight anymore...

* * *

Kelly let out a groan. "Why me.." She muttered, realizing too late that she had forgotten the sheets of paper she had printed out with needed information on it.  
  
She let out a sigh and looked around the room. "I guess Dr. Oliver wouldn't mind it I borrowed his computer...I really need to get this essay done.."  
  
A little over an hour later Kelly had collected all of the information she needed and pasted it all into a word document. She clicked save and opened "My Documents" when asked where she wanted to save it to. The dark haired girl was about to hit save when she noticed a folder labeled "My Past". She looked around the room before hitting the save button.  
  
Once the needed information had been saved she moved the mouse slowly to the top of the document and clicked on the word 'File' followed by 'Open'. She easily located the mysterious folder and opened it. At the back of her mind she scolded herself, though for Kelly reason took a back seat to curiosity.  
  
Her eyes slowly scanned the folders contents. There were more folders inside, each one titled with the name of different rangers from the past. She curiously opened a few, finding saved e-mails, articles and some pictures. She returned to the original folder, smiling as she spotted the one she had been most looking forward to seeing : "Kimberly Hart".  
  
The mouse rose and double clicked the folder. It opened quickly, revealing itself to be different from the rest. There were no e-mails, instead there were file upon file of pictures and many articles. Kelly glanced to the side bar and her eyes widened. Kim's folder held over four hundred separate files.  
  
The mouse moved again, switching the layout so the oldest was shown at the top. "Time to see what the first pink ranger's been up to.." She said as she opened the first article...

* * *

'_I can't believe it!_' Elsa thought angrily.  
  
She had no feelings for Tommy. He was a great person, so kind and smart, quite handsome as well. If only she didn't have to kill him...  
  
It had been quite a few years since they were last together. She closed her eyes as she remembered all of the hurt feelings. She had loved him and she still had feelings for him, no matter how much she denied them.  
  
Back when they had both been full humans they had been happily together for years. But when they became what they were, Mesogog helped them to see the light. Love got in the way of the plans. The break up had been a hard one, though it was so much harder pretending not to love him when she did...

* * *

"So.." Hayley began, looking over to Tommy as he drove them down the road home. "What happened while I was gone?"  
  
Tommy glanced over to her and smiled. "Well first of all we all missed you, especially everyone at the café. They all wish you the best and can't wait to have you back, though if you're not ready I know that they'd understand and Trent and I can handle it for a bit longer."  
  
At the mention of Trent angry grumbling could be heard from the back. Tommy glanced back and looked at Alex, the only one in the back of the car. The boy didn't look up, simply continued typing away on his laptop.  
  
Hayley smiled and shook her head. "Thank Tommy, though I really need to get back to work." She said, ignoring Alex's grumbles. She let out a sigh and gazed out as the scenery as they flew by in the black jeep. She looked happy on the outside, though inside she was dieing. She didn't want to feel the pain any more and she only hoped that work could help. "What else happened?" She asked softly.  
  
"Connor broke his leg.." Tommy said, not taking his eyes off of the road in front of him.  
  
The woman's eyes widened. "Oh no..is he alright?"  
  
Dr. Oliver smiled and nodded. "Yes, he'll be fine. He's spending some time at my house because his parents are out of town and I didn't want him staying alone. Kira's there taking care of him and Kelly is doing some work on the downstairs computer.." He put a small emphasis on work, hoping that she understood the underlying meaning of his words.  
  
Hayley gave him a nod of understanding. "I hope she doesn't run into any problems.."  
  
"Me too, Hayles, me too." Tom said, giving her a smile as he used her nickname.  
  
"And these people are?" Alex interrupted, sounding as if he didn't care, despite the fact that he had been listening in.  
  
"They're more of my students who work for me." Dr O said, glancing into the rearview mirror to look at Alex.  
  
"There's more?" Alex asked, eyes widening slightly.  
  
A soft sigh echoed from the passenger seat at the front. "Yes, Alex, there's more."

* * *

Kira opened the door to her teacher's room and looked around curiously. The floor, unlike the rest of the house, wasn't wooden. Instead it was covered in a deep red carpet that spanned the entire floor. There was a large bed in the center of the room, covered in a black comforter, and a dresser off to the side. On one wall was a large fire place and on another were two large glass doors that blocked the way to a small deck outside.  
  
"He sure has a lot of pictures.." Kira commented, eyes scanning the room. The walls, the dresser, the beside table – all were covered in pictures. She looked to the bookshelf, which stood next to the glass doors, and smiled as she spotted a few photo albums. She let out a soft sigh as she picked up a picture from his dresser. It was of the first ranger team. They all looked so close, as if they were a family...Kira only wished that their team was that close.  
  
"Kira.."  
  
Connor's voice snapped the young girl out of her thoughts. She looked back as he was beginning to lay down on Tommy's bed. She smiled and began to walk over. "Yeah, Con-AH!" She let out a shout as she tripped over her own book bag. She stumbled forward, gasping softly as she fell on top of Connor. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" She asked, sounding worried, though she didn't move or rather – she didn't want to move.  
  
The boy beneath her nodded, giving her a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, Kira.." He said quietly.  
  
Kira smiled and shook her head. "Connor you're the best.." She said softly. She began to lean down, meaning to give him a kiss on the cheek, though Connor turned his head and their lips met in a gentle kiss.  
  
The kiss lasted just a little over a second, for it was broken by them both pulling back and apologizing profusely. They would have most likely worked themselves into a silence though the phone let out a ring before that could happen.  
  
'_Saved by the phone_..' Kira thought with an eye roll. "Um..I'm just gonna go get that.." She said, not meeting Connor's eyes as she spoke to him. She turned and searched the room, finally spotting the phone on her teacher's bedside table.  
  
"Hello," Kira began as she picked up the telephone. "Tommy Oliver's house. May I ask who's speaking please?"  
  
"Who are you? And why are you answering Tommy's phone?" A deep voice asked through the phone.  
  
"I'm Kira." She said without hesitation. "I work for him.." She added, remembering what Dr. O had told to Randell. "May I ask again who's speaking?"  
  
There was silence on the other end. Kira was about to ask if the man was still there when he said. "Jason...this is Jason.."

* * *

AN: I still don't own the Power Rangers...yet. I wrote this before I posted the 3rd chapter. Umm....How that you like it. Now tell me what you thought and hit the review button.  
  
BN: It would be a lot of fun to own the power rangers, or at least Tommy...unfortunately I don't own any of them, as of yet. Finally got the time to finish this, I hope you all like ( Please review, it's greatly appreciated. Bye until next chapter.


	5. Don't Worry

"I just don't know what to do, Tommy.."  
  
It had been a week since Jason had called the teacher's house and left a message with Kira. All he said was that he was coming to visit and when he had tried to call back he got an operators voice that told him the phone line had been disconnected. Now Jason and his sleeping daughter sat with Tommy in the black ranger's living room.  
  
"It's ok, Jase. Everything is going to be alright," Oliver said gently, giving his old friend a comforting smile.  
  
Jason sighed, holding his daughter close. "I know.." He whispered. "It's just that so many things seem to be going wrong in my life.."  
  
"Like what?" Tommy questioned softly.  
  
"I don't even know where to start..." Jason replied, letting loose a laugh that sounded slightly forced.  
  
"I've heard that the best place to start is usually the beginning." Dr Oliver took a seat beside his friend, who sighed before beginning his tale...

* * *

"And I'm doing this why?"  
  
"Because I said so, Alex." Hayley said, sounding slightly exasperated – as if she was on her last nerve. "You need to get out more and do something, rather than just sitting in your room all day long." She added, glancing over to her nephew.  
  
"I happen to like doing nothing, thank you very much." Alex retorted, frowning and crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"And I happen not to care." Hayley replied, hoping that she didn't sound too mean.  
  
Alex sighed, resisting an eye roll. "Fine." He finally said. "What do you want me to do?"  
  
Hayley smiled, quite happy that she had gotten her way. "You can start with that table." She lifted her arm and pointed to a table not too far away, where a young man and woman sat. Alex nodded, mentally noting their presence – having noticed them there, at the café, numerous times in the past week. "Then you take their order and give it to Trent," Hayley continued.  
  
"Trent?" Alex questioned, looking confused.  
  
"Yes, Trent." Hayley repeated, frowning. "You know that you can't keep this up forever, Alex."  
  
"Just watch me." The boy retorted, eyes narrowing slightly as Trent walked up to them. "Speak of the Devil.." He muttered.  
  
"What?" Trent asked, frowning in confusion.  
  
"Nothing, Trent." Hayley said, giving him a smile. "What's up?"  
  
"Oh, right. Nothing, I just wanted to come and tell you that I was gonna head on home now." Trent replied, nodding to the clock, which was signalling the end of his shift.  
  
Hayley nodded, smiling. "Thanks, Trent. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
"Bye, Hayley. Bye, Alex." Trent said, giving Alex a small smile. He truly was sorry for their fight earlier and was hoping to patch things up with the younger boy.  
  
"Bye," Hayley and Alex chorused, in a forced tone on Alex's part.  
  
The second Trent had disappeared out of the door Alex laughed, turning to look at Hayley with a smug grin. "Ha! Now I don't have to work with him."  
  
"For now," Hayley reminded her nephew, gently pushing him off of his stool and off towards the table.

* * *

Jason sighed softly, gazing up at his old friend. When he had said that things were going wrong in his life he hadn't been kidding. Things had begun getting bad when he was laid off at his job. After that his babysitter quit for she was moving to a small town in Nevada, leaving him to both look for a new job and take care of his daughter, Julie. Unfortunatly on one of their days out job hunting the house had caught fire and burned to the ground – leaving them both homeless.  
  
"I'm really sorry about this, Tommy.." The former red ranger began softly. "It's just that nothing's been going right and I didn't know who else to turn to.."  
  
Tommy smiled down at his old friend. "You did the right thing, Jase. You know that you and Julie are alwaus welcomed here..." He paused a moment to think. "Hey Jason, ever thought about moving to Reefside?" He asked, half-doubting himself.  
  
"What?" Jason asked with a laugh, looking at his best friend as if he were crazy.  
  
"Why not? I have four empty guest rooms with no guests! There empty now but it's about time that they were put to use. You can take one and Julie can take another." Tom offered with a bright smile.  
  
Jason shook his head, grinning. "You're a crazy man, Dr. Oliver."  
  
"And proud of it." Tommy said with a chuckle. "What do you say?"  
  
Jason sighed and nodded. "We'll take it. Though just until I can find a place of my own."  
  
Oliver smiled over at his friend. "You stay as long as you need to, Jason."  
  
The former red smiled, shaking his head happily. "You know you're the best friend a guy could ask for."  
  
"I know," Tommy replied with a mockingly cocky grin. "But I always love hearing it." He rose to his feet as Jason laughed, motioning for his friend to do the same. "There's one last thing that I'll need to show you if you're going to be living here..."  
  
"What is it?" Jason asked, eyes sparkling with innocent curiosity. He trusted the other man with his life, though it was hard to tell with Tommy. You never knew what was up his sleeve – he was in a class of his own.  
  
Dr. Oliver sighed, walking over to the dinosaur in the wall. "Follow me.." He said, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake....

* * *

"Thank you, Mrs. McKnight." Kelly said softly as her friend's mother led her into Connor's bedroom.  
  
"No problem, Kelly." The woman said kindly to the young girl before looking over to her son. "You if you need anything I'll be downstairs." She added before leaving the room.  
  
The rangers had all agreed to meet up at Connor's house – before they went to Dr Oliver for training. Kelly was the last to arrive. She closed the door quietly behind Connor's mother before turning and giving the room and her friend's a once over.  
  
"Hey everybody." She said with a smile.  
  
"Hey, Kell." The group said in unison, before looking at each other and laughing.  
  
Kelly smiled, moving and taking a seat on the floor beside Trent. "What's up?" She asked as she glanced up to Connor. He was laying out on his bed, ontop of the covers with his cast still on his leg. She smiled as she noticed that he looked a bit better than the last time she had seen him.  
  
"Well," Trent began, causing the group's eyes to move to him. "Alex still hates me."  
  
"You just met him," Kira said with a smile. "How can he hate you?" She leaned back in the beanbag she was sitting on, looking out at all of them. It was strange, for she was the farthest away from Connor – when she usually was the closest to him. Though no one mentioned anything.  
  
"He hated him since the day they met," Ethan explained, pushing off of the floor, causing the chair that he was in to spin slowly around. "They got into a fight at the airport – made a huge scene and everything."  
  
"Really?" Connor asked with avid interest, sitting up slightly.  
  
"I didn't want to fight him.." Trent said, looking over at the dark red walls rather than any of his friend's faces. "I still don't.."  
  
Kelly gave him a warm smile, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "It'll be ok, Trent. Things'll get better, you'll see...he's just hurting now, that's all.."  
  
Trent sighed and nodded. "I hope soe.."  
  
"Connor? Ethan? Anything to add?" Kira asked, glancing to her watch. When both shook their heads 'no', she looked to Kelly, who smiled.  
  
"I actually found out some stuff about Kimberly.." The dark haired girl said softly, easily gaining the attention of her team mates. She smiled, brushing a strand of hair from her face before continuing. "Well, remember last week? When we were at Dr. O's?" She asked, looking to Kira and Connor who both nodded. "I was working on some homework, on his computer. And when I went to save it I noticed a folder titled 'My Past'...I couldn't help but open it.." She added, a light blush coming into her cheeks.  
  
"Go on." Ethan said, leaning forward.  
  
"Alright, well, I opened it up and there were about fifteen more folders inside – each labled with a person's name. I opened some of them to try and figure out what they were, turns out they were titled with the names of old rangers and inside of each folder was pictures, articles and emails..I looked around a bit and found one that said 'Kimberly Hart' on it...I opened it and inside were a ton of pictures and a lot of articles. Though there weren't any e-mails...I went through them all and learned a bit about this mysterious person who Dr. O seems to love so much."  
  
"Is she still hot?" Connor asked eagerly.  
  
"Connor!" Kira scolded, throwing a pillow at him. It was one of the first actions that day that had been directed soley at Connor. She wasn't sure where they stood, for they hadn't spoken about the kiss. She truly did want to talk to him about it and she knew that it was nesecary if the relationship was going to progress at all. Though she was still nervous about what talking about it would mean.  
  
The ranger laughed, smiling over at her. "Ouch, Kira, that hurt." He said with a grin. He was acting normal enough, he had no reason not to. Unlike Kira, he wasn't afraid of what was to come – he knew already that everything was going to be fine between them. "Well, is she Kelly?" He asked, looking back to his pink partner.  
  
"Yes," Kelly answered with a laugh. "She's still very attractive."  
  
"What else?" Trent asked curiously.  
  
"Well.." Kelly began, pausing to think back. "She won a silver medal in the Pan Global Gymnastic Games, before she retired. She did acting for a while, in a movie and a few tv apperances. And in the most recent article, which was published about a month ago, she said that she was looking for a good place to set up a school for the arts to teach and promote gymnastics, karate, acting, music and writing."  
  
"Wow.." Ethan whispered, smiling slightly as she finished. Kim did seem like a great person and he could easily see why Dr. Oliver fancied her.  
  
"Did it mention where she lived?" Trent questioned softly.  
  
Kelly nodded. "Yeah, it gave the name of a small town in Florida. I have it written down somewhere.."  
  
"Great.." Trent said with a grin. "Now all we have to do is find a way to get her to come to Reefside.."  
  
Connor nodded in agreement. "True. But first we need to get over to Dr O's place before we're late." He said, sitting up – eager to finally be able to get out of the house, even if he couldn't train with his friends.  
  
Kira stood up and walked over, reaching out to help him up. Connor took it and gave her a smile, which she returned happily. Connor had been right, everything was ok...

* * *

"Welcome to Hayley's Cyberspace, can I take your order?" Alex said as he approached the table his aunt had pushed him towards.  
  
"And you are?" The girl asked in a snotty tone, while the boy continued to fiddle with a cam-corder.  
  
"Your worst nightmare.." Alex muttered with a smirk.  
  
"Excuse me?" She raised a brow, not sure if she was imagining things or not.  
  
"I said what would you like?" He forced on an overly false cheery smile, causing the boy to laugh.  
  
The girl frowned, though accepted his answer. "I want an ice tea." she saidd, before looking to her partner.  
  
"A virgin pina colada. Do excuse Cassidy," The boy added, giving Alex a small smile in apology for his concieted friend. "Mind if I ask for you name?"  
  
"I'm Alex, Heyley's nephew." He said, scribbling down their orders.  
  
"I'm Devin." The boy introduced polietly. "How old are you, Alex?"  
  
"Fourteen." Alex said as he finished up writing and looked over at Devin.  
  
"Freshman, right? Reefside High?" Devin asked.  
  
"Yeah.." Alex frowned slightly as school as mentioned.  
  
Devin grinned and nodded. "Guess I'll see you around school then."  
  
Alex nodded, managing a small smile. "I'll be back with your drinks in a second. Nice meeting you, Devin." He said pointedly, grinning at the boy before walking away.  
  
"Did he just-"Cassidy began, looking dumbfounded.  
  
"Yes, he did, Cass." Devin said with a grin. "He did."

* * *

"Again, Tommy?" Jason asked with a laugh. "Doesn't it ever get old?"  
  
Tommy laughed, a bit of colour coming into his cheeks. "I can't help it, you know I love it."  
  
"I know. I know.." Jason grinned as he loked around. "Man..you take the whole 'Once a ranger, always a ranger' to a whole new level."  
  
"Don't I know it." Dr. Oliver said with a laugh.  
  
"Tommy.." Jason began, looking around the lab. "I know you're smart, but all this?"  
  
"I told you, Jason. Hayley's a genius." A hint of pride sounded in his voice. "I think she may even be smarter than Billy."  
  
"Smarter than Billy?" Jason looked back to his friend, brow raised in surprise.  
  
Tommy nodded. "Well, she's a rocket scientist."  
  
Jason grinned. "I have to meet her.."  
  
A twinkle appeared in Dr O's dark eyes. "I'm sure that you guys will hit it off..."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean, Oliver?" Jason asked, frowning slightly.  
  
"I don't know." Tommy said, putting on an innocent smile.  
  
Jason rolled his eyes and laughed, pausing to pick up a picture of the new ranger team. "They any good?" He asked teasingly.  
  
Tommy smiled and nodded. "The team's pretty special. They all come from totally different words – most of them actually didn't like each other before they became rangers."  
  
His friend laughed and nodded, continuing to gaze down at the picture. "Who's who?"  
  
"Well..." Tommy began, moving over to study the picture. "That's Connor, in the red. We call him the "leader", even though it's more of a joint role. He's a soccer player. Then we have Kira – the yellow. She's a singer, has a band called 'The Cause'. She and Connor have something going on – no one knows what, but it's something. The computer genius in the group is Ethan, the blue ranger. Trent's the artist and I acutally used to work with his father. He and Kira used to date, they broke off and thankfully are still really good friends...The last is Trent's supposed new crush, Kelly – the pink and the writer of the group." He finished with a grin.  
  
Jason smiled, taking one last look at the picture before setting it down. "They seem like a pretty special group.."  
  
"They are.." Tommy said with a grin.  
  
"It seems like that make up this big huge love triange.." The former red said with a laugh.  
  
Tommy chuckled softly and nodded. "It's even bigger if you include all those that aren't rangers..." He said, pride twinkling in his eyes as he thought of his fellow rangers.  
  
Jason smiled over at his old friend. "You really care about them don't you?" He asked softly.  
  
Dr. Oliver, laughed softly and looked to the ground. "I do.." He said softly, looking back up to his friend.  
  
"Daddy!" A little voice said as footsteps rushed towards the two. "Daddy, Uncle Tommy – the door! Someone's at the door." A little girl ran over quickly, stopping in front of them. Her blue eyes sparkled happily as she gazed around the room. "Uncle Tommy – can I play on the computer?" She asked, pulling gently on his shirt.  
  
Tommy smiled, kneeling down and taking the little girl into his arms. "Later, Jules, I promise." He said as he stood, holding her gently. "For now, would you like to go and meet some kids that you can play with?"  
  
"Yes." Julie said, nodding her head, brown pigtails bouncing as she did so.  
  
The dark haired man laughed, heading up the stairs. "Great, let's go see them then.." He said, leading the way towards his front door...

* * *

AN: I'm done with the 5th chapter. I hope you guys like it. I haven't even posted the 4th chapter as I wrote this. So go and hit the review button now.  
  
BN: smiles happily I haven't gotten a chapter done this fast in a while...I really did like this chapter. My all time favorite line was Jason's, "You take the whole 'Once a ranger, always a ranger' to a whole new level." That was just great on the author's part, I loved it and I hope you did too - Please review, it's greatly appriciated.  
  
O and we still don't own Power Rangers......for now. 


	6. Don't Worry II

Jason braced himself as his long time friend began to open the door. He let out a breath that he had unconciously been holding in. He didn't understand why he was nervous, though he found that he was filled with the despised sensation.  
  
He had a sudden flashback as Tommy told the rangers to come inside. In his mind Jason went back to years and years before. He was seventeen, a junior in High School and he harbored a deep secret that he shared with five of his peers. That group and the new had one thing in common and that was Tommy, other than that everything seemed so different to Jason.  
  
"Are these the kids you were talking about, Uncle Tommy?" Julie asked.  
  
"Uncle Tommy?" Connor questioned with a raised brow.  
  
Tommy simply smiled, laughing softly and looking down to the ground for a moment before closing the door and turning to look at his teammates. "You guys," He began slowly. "I want you to meet Jason, a close lifelong friend of mine."  
  
"Hey Jason." The small congregation said in unison.  
  
"I'm sure you all remember him from the video," The black ranger continued. "This face," He jestured to Julie, who let out a soft giggle. "You wouldn't remember, her name is Julie, she's his daughter."  
  
"Oh..so that's Jason.." Ethan muttered, thinking aloud to himself.  
  
"Ethan," Kira snapped softly.  
  
"Huh?" Connor asked, turning to look at Kira, who growled in aggrivation.  
  
"You know – Dr. O...Kat...Brian," Kelly put in.  
  
"Oh.." Connor said, mouth forming an 'o' and his eyes widening slightly.  
  
"Smart, Connor," Trent said with a chuckle to his friend in red.  
  
"Seems as though you've been talking about me, Oliver." Jason laughed along with the others, smiling at all of them as he saw how close they all were.  
  
"Me?" Tommy asked, looking mockingly shocked. "Now why would I do that?" He smilled inoccently, dark eyes sparkling with happiness. "I actually didn't say a thing, Jase..Now.." He turned to look at the yellow ranger. "Who told you all of this?"  
  
"Our local rocket scientist," Ethan answered.  
  
"And who told her?" Jason asked, looking to Tommy.  
  
"Guilty," Was the answer Tommy gave, earning laughs from everyone.  
  
"Hello!" The voice of the youngest girl rang out among the laughs. "Still look for someone to play with!" The laughs stopped and they all looked at her, before laughing again. "Daddy?"  
  
"Yes?" Jason looked down at his daughter, pushing down his laughs.  
  
The little girl didn't say anything for a moment, simply gazed up at her father. She finally looked over to Connor and pointed at him. "Red.." She pointed then to Kira. "Yellow..." Her little finger shifted over to Trent. "White and Pink..." She added, having shifted over to look at Kelly. "And Uncle Tommy is in black..."  
  
"You're so smart, honey." Jason kissed his daughter's forehead. "Would you all mind playing with Julie?"  
  
"Of coarse not," Kira said warmly. "Anyone wanna come and help?"  
  
"I will.." Connor voulenteered. Kira smiled, gently taking Julie into her arms and heading towards the door, Connor following on his crutches.  
  
"Hold up, you three – I've got one last thing to say before you go," Tommy said, reaching out and placing his hand on the doorknob. He slowly opened it for them before continuing. "Jase and Julie are going to be liying here with me for a while...Which means that we'll need a babysitting around here from time to time..."  
  
"We're all here to help, Dr O." Trent put in with a smile as he looked over at his mentor.

* * *

"So, Julie, what do you like to do?" Kira asked the little girl, once they were all situated on the porch of Tommy's house.  
  
"I like my doll and I like to watch TV." Julie said, running her fingers along the smooth wood.  
  
"I loved dolls when I was your age...What about you Connor?" Kira joked gently.  
  
"Well, I wasn't too big on dolls, but I loved TV." Connor said with a laugh.  
  
"Can I ask you two something?" Julie questioned, twirling her hair around her finger.  
  
"Sure, Julie." The two answered at the same time. They shared a glance, though both blushed and looked back to the little girl  
  
"Well.." Julie began slowly. She paused to stand up and brush off her little dress. "I was watching TV and I saw a wedding and in the wedding they had a flower girl.." She continued, clasping her hands behind her nack and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "And I was wondering...if I could be the flower girl when you two get married..I've practiced, I'm really good...Pretty please?"  
  
"Julie...what makes you think we're going to get married?" Kira asked the little girl softly, holding off a blush.  
  
"Well you do like each other right?" Julie asked, making both Kira and Connor blush.  
  
"Of coarse we do, Julie." Connor answered slowly.  
  
"Well, my daddy told me that if two people like each other they get married!" Julie said in exasperation, as it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
"I'll tell you what, Julie..._If_ Kira and I ever chose to get married and we don't elope," He winked teasingly at Kira. "You can be the flower girl." He added, not wanting to hurt her feelings.  
  
"Cool! I'm gonna go tell Daddy." Julie turned excitedly and ran into the house.  
  
"Conn?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
Silence. Connor opened his mouth to say something before she spoke. "You're going to make a great dad someday.."  
  
"Thanks Kira..."  
  
"Only saying the truth..." Kira stood up, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "I think I'm gonna head inside.." She leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.  
  
"What was that for?" Connor wondered aloud.  
  
"For being you.." Kira told him, a smile playing her lips. "You coming?"  
  
"Yeah.."

* * *

Julie rushed into the house and headed down the stairs into the Dino Lab in search of her father – practically bursting with excitement at the thought of telling him about Connor and Kira making him their flower girl. She came to a stop once in front of her father, the boy in white and girl in pink at his side. "Daddy, Daddy, guess what!" She squealed excitedly, causing them all to turn around to look at her.  
  
"What is it, honey?" Jason asked, kneeling down so he was eye level with her.  
  
"Connor and Kira said that I could be the flower girl in their wedding!" The small child exclaimed excitedly.  
  
"Cone and Kira are getting married?" Trent questioned, raising a brow.  
  
"Yup yup yup," Julie said happily. "They told me they like each other."  
  
"Wow.." Kelly whispered, laughing softly, unable to say much else.  
  
Jason smiled, lifting his daughter into his arms. "Come on, honey, let's go tell your Uncle Tommy the good news."  
  
"Well...that was random.." Trent said to his _coworker_.  
  
"Yeah I know.." Kelly answered back. "Still, I can see it happening.."  
  
Trent nodded in agreement. "So can I..." He paused a moment before continuing. "I feel so bad for Julie...She didn't' even get to know her mother before she died, at least I did..."  
  
"I'm glad that I did do.." Kelly whispered, blinking a few times as tears began to gather in her eyes.  
  
"You did?" Trent asked, speaking slowly and carefully, knowing that he was treading on emotional grounds.  
  
Kelly nodded, taking in a deep breath before speaking. "My mother...She died about a year ago...That's part of the reason why we moved her, my dad wanted us to start over.." She whispered, silent tears falling down her cheeks.  
  
"Come here, Kell.." The boy opposite her whispered, knowing the pain of losing a parent. He gently pulled her into his arms, holding her close and kissing the top of her head. "It'll be ok, I promise...It'll be ok.."

* * *

'_I wonder where everyone is_...' Ethan thought as he descended the steps down to the Dino Lab. He paused before he reached the bottom, spotting Trent kissing a crying Kelly on her forehead. After the kiss Trent simply held her close, letting her cry softly into his chest. It seemed so natural, as if they were ment to be together.  
  
It seemed that everyone was ment to be with someone, everyone but Ethan. He wanted as everyoned clicked together; Conor and Kira, Trent and Kelly, and Tommy and Kim. He couldn't help but wonder if he was meant to be with somebody or to die alone and old.  
  
That wasn't his only worry though. He also was worried about feeling like he was the fifth wheel of the group. He didn't want to feel like an extra, just there because he happened to be a Power Ranger too.  
  
'_Maybe I'm worrying too much_..' He thought to himself as he sat down on the top step. '_I can't help it though_...Why can't I just be five years old again?' He sighed softly, thinking back to Julie. So much had happened in her short life, yet she kept on smiling. No worries, no problems, no cares – only happiness. '_Growing up sucks..._' He thought looking up as Trent and Kelly began to head upstairs.  
  
"Hey Ethan," Trent began with a smile. "What're you doing?"  
  
"Just thinking.." Ethan said softly, looking up at the two.  
  
"You alright?" Kelly asked, her eyes sparkling gently with concern.  
  
"Fine, just fine. Come on, let's go upstairs...."  
  
Jason smiled, gazing around his friend's living room – looking from ranger to ranger. It felt strange to know that the teenagers around him were all active power rangers and he was only a friend, an ally. The only other time he had been nothing but a stand by was when he was kidnapped and Tommy received "Turbo" powers. Though, he didn't feel it was the time or place to be thinking about that.  
  
His eyes moved to the friend he had just been thinking about and he almost laughed. Tommy seemed so out of place, being the eldest of the group. Yet somehow the team just didn't feel right without him. Jason didn't know how Tommy managed it, but then again Tommy did like doing the impossible. Before he was able to continue his thoughts anymore he was interrupted by the words of the yellow ranger.  
  
"Mr. Scott..Jason.." She began, unsure of what to call him. "It was a pleasure meeting you and I would love to stay and talk...but I need to be going, my band's preforming at the café tonight."  
  
"Why should you go alone?" Tommy asked, eyes twinkling. "Why don't we all go? You wouldn't mind, would you Jase?"  
  
"Of coarse not!" Jason put in with a smile. "I'd love to go."  
  
"Great! You can meet Hayley!" Tommy added, smirkling slightly.  
  
"Jason and Heyley, huh?" The current red ranger put in, raising a brow and smiling.  
  
"Oh, they would make such a cute couple!" Kelly said, or rather nearly yelled.  
  
"And if they got married," Ethan began, adding to the fuel. "Then Dr. O could call both of his best friends on the same phone number!"  
  
"You know I'm still here..in the room." Jason put in, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the excited babble of the teens.  
  
"Come on let's go," Trent said, rising to his feet, he and the others ignoring what Jason had just said and continuing to chat amungst themselves of the newest 'couple'.  
  
As the group was heading out of the door Julie pulled on Connor's sleeve. "Connor....if Daddy and this Naley lady get married...then will I have a mother?"  
  
Connor smiled sadddly before answering. "I don't know, Julie.." He whispered, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

* * *

"Hayley! Over here!" A voice called from the entrance of Hayley's Cyberspace.  
  
She turned around and smiled upon spotting her best friend and love of her life. She began to head over, smiling in greeting to the rangers and the two who she recognized to be Jason and Julie. "Hey you guys," She said, flinging a towel over her shoulder and extending her hand to Jason. "I don't know if you remember me from the few times I saw you but I'm Hayley."  
  
"Of coarse I remember you, sweetie." Jason said with a smile, making her blush slightly as he shook her hand in greeting.  
  
"And this beautiful little girl must be your daughter.." Hayley continued, looking to the small girl in Kira's arms.  
  
"Yup, that's Julie.." Jason whispered, pride in both his voice and eyes.  
  
Hayley shook Julie's hand as well before looking to Kira. "The band's waiting." She said with a smile to the girl in yellow.  
  
"Thanks, Hayley. I'll see you guys in a bit." Kira said, putting Julie down before disappearing.

* * *

Jason cleared his throat before speaking into the microphone. "Can I please have you attention?" He said loudly and clearly. Hayley was supposed to be the one to introduce the band. Though Jason had the urge to do it, so he asked and she let him. "I'm happy to introduce 'The Cause' and their lead singer Kira Ford!"  
  
The former red stepped down as Kira came up to the mircophone, all eyes focused on her. She had sung before and often, though there were still butterflies in her stomach. "I wrote this song for a special someone that I would patiently wait for...I hope you like it..." She whispered before she began singing.  
  
_Looking back   
I don't regret one single day   
Memories will keep me close   
When you will go away_  
  
_It's harder then I could imagine  
Guess I should have know that  
Close your eyes I'll be there   
I'll come running anywhere  
  
Say goodbye  
I'll be ok   
I will wait for you cause   
True Love will never fade  
_  
Tommy loved all of Kira's songs, though this one made Tommy think of someone who he hadn't thought about in a long time, Kimberly Anne Hart, his first true love. He didn't know who he was trying to kid, he thought about her every single day of his life. He loved all of his memories of her, from the first day they met to the time he got his turbo powers. Tommy never regretted going out with Kim, he only regretted not running after her....  
  
_When it's real you can feel it   
And I know that you know   
That I will keep on waiting   
Faithfully, Patiently for you  
  
Stormy Tuesday afternoons   
Haven't been the same   
I used to stand outside and taste the sweetness of the air   
It's harder when it really happens   
Oh I wish I'd known that   
I close my eyes and you're there   
But I can't find you anywhere_  
  
Hayley sighed softly. '_Why was life so confusing_?' She thought as Kira sang her song. Did she love Tommy or was it just another girly crush? Was it love that she felt or just a brother-sister feeling? Kira's song said that you know when it's love, but she didn't. Still, if it was true love then it wouldn't fade and she would wait patiently....  
  
_Say goodbye   
I'll be ok   
I will wait for you cause   
True Love will never fade  
  
When it's real you can feel it  
And I know that you know  
That I will keep on waiting   
Patiently, Patiently for you  
  
Patiently   
So Patiently   
Oh I'm lost   
I tried to find you   
Then I turn around I'm right behind you_  
  
Connor gazed up at Kira as she sang. She truly was one of a kind, a unique person that no one could replace. A year ago, he couldn't care less about Kira Ford, but now she meant the world to him. He was sure that he would die for her. When she wasn't around he didn't feel complete, he felt like he was missing something. He only felt whole when she was there with him....  
  
_Say goodbye   
I'll be ok   
I will wait for you cause  
True Love will never fade  
  
When it's real you can feel it  
And I know that you know   
That I will keep on waiting   
Faithfully, Patiently, Patiently for you_  
  
_'Love works in strange ways...It brings me from hating a guy to thinking about him twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. That's why I wrote this song for him. Because I would wait forever to be with him and I'll wait patiently...When Julie asked us if she could be in our wedding my heart went racing at the thought of one day becoming Mrs. Kira McKnight and that thought gives me a reason to live...because I, Kira Ford, am in love with Connor McKnight...."

* * *

_  
  
A/N: So here's the 6th chapter nothing much, but I liked it. I hope you guys did you. I have writen the next two chapters and they are waited to be edited. The beta and I have been kind of busy with her work and my vaction and our birthdays (Mine Being July 23 and her being th 8th.) Review plzs. Plus I worte before I saw the show with this song in it. Thank to Emma Lahana(Kira) for the song  
  
B/N : I just want to apologize for the wait on this chapter...It's just that my busy schedule rarely includes 'Time To Write Power Ranger Story'...The author has already sent me the next two chapters and I promise to get them to you as soon as I can..I hope you liked this one, please read and review (  
  
To the fans:  
  
Divagurl277- I like Kira and Connor a lot, I find them to be a baetter couple then Kira and Trent.  
  
Dee- Elsa is not Kim   
  
C2- Jason was married to Kat and she dies of bran cancer.  
  
silver-sugar- I'll bring back more, but I can't Trini because she'll dead.  
  
Lelen- Kim will be in the 8th chapter (and on), which I have written.  
  
Pink-Ranger-Diva –I'm glad you like the fact that I had Jason marrying Kat and then her dying.  
  
Also thanks, Prinzessin, Flame31, DinoThunderRed, CamFan4Ever, ShinaT, DrummerGirl76, Spiffy, WOOPWOOP, Lelen, Alexis & Book Lover990


	7. One More Time

A younger Jason slowly walked into the hospital room that housed his wife. He smiled sadly as he looked down at her. "Hey, Kat.." He whispered softly. She had been in the hospital for months, growing steadily weaker each day.

"Hey, honey." She said softly, giving him a smile. She knew that she didn't have long to live, a week or sooner according to the doctor. She was scared as hell to die, yet she refused to let it show. She had to be strong for Jason, who in turn, had to be strong for Julie. "Jason...you know I love you, right?"

He nodded, reaching out and gently stroking her cheek. "I love you too.." He told his dieing wife. "More than anything in the world."

"Jason.." Kat began softly. "Please...when I die...move on..."

Her husband shook his head slowly. "Kat, you know you're the only one for me.."

"Even so, you can still love me and somebody else. Promise me, Jase, promise me that you'll fine someone else." She insisted gently.

"I can't.." He answered softly. He hated to think of her dieing, inside he was screaming 'No!'.

"Jason Lee Scott, you promise me that you'll find someone else." The tone in Kat's voice was final and a bit stern, he could pick both up easily even with her quite whisper of a voice.

"I don't think I can.." He answered, biting his lip.

"Promise me?" She raised her voice slightly, even though it hurt, she wanted him to promise. Jason could see this and he finally nodded.

"I promise.."

* * *

Jason awoke from the dream he knew so well, drenched in cold sweat. Every night since he had moved into Tommy's house he woke up the same way, covered in sweat after reliving the dream. He wasn't exactly sure what it meant, though he had a slight hunch that it was Kat telling him to move on. Yet why- a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in.."

"Jase, you alright?" Tommy asked as he walked into the room. "I was just heading out of the shower and I heard you yelling..."

The former red smiled slightly. "Nothing but a bad dream..." He smirked, looking his friend over. "Nice attire." He added, eyes sparkling gently as he looked over at his friend who was wearing nothing but a bath towel that was wrapped around his waist.

"You know that you're just dieing to see me naked...Not that it would be first time." Tommy said jokingly, pointing out the fact that they had to share the showers back in high school.

"Of coarse I do." Jason fired back with a smirk.

"I know you do, but it's not where near as much as I want to see your hot body." Tommy put in, voice dry. He missed having someone his age to play around with. He had Hayley, of coarse, though it was different with Jason. Jason made Tommy feel as though he was a five-year-old kid who's friend had come over to spend the night.

"Daddy! Uncle Tommy!" Julie called from the hallway, searching out her two guardians.

"We're in here, honey." Jason called out to his daughter.

"What're you talking about?" Julie questioned as she came into the room, climbing up onto her father's bed.

"About how everyone who lives in this house is so darn good looking." Tommy answered her.

"Does that include me?"

"Do you live here?"

"I think so."

"Then you are."

Julie smiled. "I can't wait to tell Kira!" She said excitedly, having grown very close to the yellow ranger in the past month.

Four weeks prior, at the end of November, Jason and Julie had moved in with Tommy. Now it was only one week till Christmas, meaning that Tommy and the rangers were all off for winter break. The whole group, including Hayley, were coming over later that night so they could throw their own little ranger Christmas party.

* * *

Kira silently opened the door to Connor's room and stepped inside, presents in her arms. She smiled as she saw him, singing and dancing around to Maroon 5's 'She Will Be Loved'. He certainly wasn't the greatest singer in the world, far from it actually, though she still thought it to be cute. It had been exactly a month since she had figured out that she was in love with Connor. So instead of interrupting she simply stood there at the door watching her love.

_**I don't mind spending everyday  
**__**Out on your corner in the poring rain  
**__**Look for the girl with the broke smile  
**__**Ask her if she wants to say a while  
**_**_And she will be loved  
__And she will be loved_**

_**Tap on my window  
**_**_Knock on my door  
__I want to make you feel beautiful _**

"You do?" Kira asked, raising a brow.

Connor blushed slightly, rushing to turn the radio off. "Sorry, didn't meant to embarrass myself in front of you." He said with a laugh.

"It's ok." Kira put in, smiling. "It was kind of hot."

"Then I should do it more often."

"As long as I'm the only one watching."

"You can be alone with me, anytime you want." Connor smiled, thinking over all that they were saying, a new language that was becoming second nature to them. "So, my lady." He continued, extending a hand to her. "Ready to venture over to Dr. O's?"

"Of coarse." She said with a smile, taking his hand in her own.

Ethan smiled as he walked into Dr. O's living room. He had never seen the place look so festive before. There were Christmas decorations everywhere and in one corner stood one of the largest Christmas trees he'd ever see.

"Hey Ethan!" Trent called out, standing up from the couch to greet his friend, Kelly following his example.

"Merry Christmas, Trent." Ethan said, turning to face his friends. "Hey Kelly." He added, smiling over at her.

"Hey, Ethan, Merry Christmas." Kelly moved forward and gave Ethan a hug. Over time she had become closer to all those in the group, including Ethan. She wasn't as close to him as she was to Trent or Kira, though she was definitely closer than before and that was something.

"Where are the rest?" Ethan asked as he pulled back from the hug, looking around.

"Dr. O and Hayley are downstairs getting something...Jason is upstairs getting Julie ready and Connor and Kira aren't here yet." Trent answered.

"What about Alex?" Ethan wondered aloud, having grown much close to Alex in the time that he had been with them.

"With his grandmother in Colorado." Kelly told him, smiling as the bell rang.

"Someone get that, please." Dr. Oliver yelled from downstairs.

Ethan headed towards the door, shouting out. "Will do, Dr. O...Hey Con, Kira." He said, moving aside to let his friends inside.

"Hey you guys," They said in unison.

"Kira!" Julie's voice rang out from the steps as she raced down them towards her friend.

Kira laughed and lifted the small girl into her arms. "Hi Julie." She said with a smile, as Jason's calls for his daughter reached their ears.

"In here, Jase." Connor called out. Over the month Kira and Julie had formed a bond, while at the same time Connor and Jason held one – both having been red rangers.

"Thanks, Connor." Jason grinned as he walked into the room, looking around at the rangers. "So, looks like all we're missing is Tommy and Hayley." He turned towards the stairs and called out, "Oi! Doctors! Hurry up!" Most outside of the rangers would think that Jason's statement had been wrong. Not many people knew that Hayley was a doctor of science, it was a fact that she preferred to keep hidden from most, wanting to be seen as normal a person as she could be.

"Coming!" Hayley answered, appearing moments later with her fellow doctor at her side.

* * *

"I can't believe you did that!" Kelly said through her laughs.

Connor blushed more. "Well, I didn't know that it was there."

"Hush, listen to the radio guys!" Ethan said, turning up the volume on the small red box.

**"We've got a special treat today, here with me is Kylee Styles – hey Kylee."**

**"Hi Kevin."**

**"So, what can I do for you today?"**

**"I was just wondering if you could play my new song for my friend, Kira."**

**"Kira, you're a lucky girl – here's 'Can You?' dedicated to Kira."**

"That's so cool Kira!" Trent said to his ex-girlfriend, smiling excitedly.

"Yeah...it is..." Kira whispered, smiling from ear to ear. "Dance with me, Connor?" She asked as the music started.

"You had to ask?" Connor stood and helped her up, gently placing his hands on her waist.

_**I looked at you  
**__**You look at me  
**_**_I'm always wondering what to do  
__But some how I know that ..._**

_**When I'm with you  
**__**Everything looks so bright  
**_**_I feel like I never did before  
__So..._**

"Kelly?"

The pink ranger looked up at the white and smiled. "Yes?"

"Shall we follow in their example?" He asked, bowing an extending his hand to her.

"Why not?" Kelly smiled as she stood up, wrapping her arms gently around his neck.

"So, Kelly do you want to follow in their action."

"Why not?" she said place her hands around his neck.

_**Can you pick me up when I'm down?  
**__**Can you make me happy when I frown?  
**__**Can you just love me back?  
**__**Can you set me free?  
  
I love our little fights  
**__**Or the way that you look when you're mad  
**__**And hate it when you're sad  
**__**But I need to know...** _

Ethan looked around at his friends all dancing together. He once again felt alone, like a fifth wheel. There was a special someone on his mind, though it could never work – it would simply cause too many problems. For one there was the whole ranger thing, plus the fact that they were simply so different. He could've sat and simply gone on for ages when Julie interrupted his thoughts. "Ethan...Ethan..." She said softly, pulling gently on his sleeve.

"Yes Julie?"

"I wanna dance too.."

The blue ranger smiled and picked her up. "Sure." The small girl smiled, wrapping her little arms around Ethan's neck. _'At least I have someone....'_ Ethan thought

_**Can you pick me up when I'm down?  
**__**Can you make me happy when I frown?  
**_**_Can you just love me back?  
__Can you set me free?_**

_**Can you?  
**__**Can you?  
**__**I know you can  
**_**_Give it a try  
__So can you?_**

"Tommy...wanna dance?" Hayley asked, looking over at her close friend and secret crush.

"No thanks, I'm good.." Tommy said softly, gazing down at a large and old looking book that was resting in his lap.

Jason glanced up, noticing the sudden change of looks on Hayley's face. "Hey...um...Hal, I'll dance with you.."

Hayley thought a moment before nodding, figuring that one dance wasn't going to change anything. Jason took her hand, attempting to ignore the guilt that shot through him at the action. He hoped silently that Kat would forgive him.

* * *

"Alright everyone listen up." Tommy said as he stood, putting a halt to everyone else's conversations. "I have something to give you all..."

"Even me?" Julie asked hopefully.

The black ranger laughed and nodded. "Of coarse you."

"What is it?" Connor asked, a hint of impatience in his voice.

Tommy laughed again. "Ok ok..." He lifted a black bag from the floor and stuck his hand inside, pulling something out and placing it into Connor's hand.

Connor looked up at Dr O in confusion before looking down to his hand. In his palm was a black necklace, though it had a masculine touch to it. It was nothing fancy, a simple chain with a small red 'C' hanging from it. "Cool, Dr O.." Connor said softly.

Tommy smiled. "Glad you like it." He said before passing out the rest, each ranger receiving their first initial in the colour of their ranger uniform. Hayley was given an orange 'H', Jason a red and gold mixed 'J', while Julie had a pink 'J' in honor of her mother.

"Thank you, Uncle Tommy!" Julie hyperly raced over to her father, practically jumping up and down. "Can you put it on me, Daddy?"

"Of coarse, sweetie." Jason smiled, gently helping her to put the necklace on.

"Dr O?" Kira began, looking up at her teacher and fellow ranger. "Where's your necklace?"

Tommy smiled, moving his shirt slightly to show them a white and green mixed 'T' and a red and blacked mixed 'O'.

* * *

Later that evening the adults and Julie had headed upstairs, leaving the young teen rangers in the living room. Connor and Kira sat together on a love seat, while Ethan and Kelly were side-by-side on the floor. Trent sat in a chair behind Kelly, playing gently with her hair.

"So, anything new you guys?" Connor asked, looking around at his friends.

The entire congregation answered 'nothing' in some shape or form, all except Kelly that was.

"Kelly?" Kira questioned, looking down at her friend.

"Um...well..." Her cheeks were flushed gently and she had a look about her that said that she had done something.

The others glanced around and smirked, wondering what Kelly had done. "What is it?" Ethan asked.

"I sent a letter.." Kelly began slowly.

"To?" Kira and Connor pushed.

"Kim."

There was a shocked silent before Trent began spilling questions. "What? When? Where? How? Why?"

Kelly sighed, hugging a knee to her chest before speaking. "Well, see I told her that she should put her school in Reefside because it would help the kids here get their minds away from the monster attacks and the 'Power Rangers'."

"You didn't.." Kira muttered.

"I did...and there's more.." Kelly added.

"What more could there be?" Connor asked with a laugh.

"I didn't sign it with my name..." The pink ranger said slowly. "I put Alex's.."

"And why did you do that?" Ethan wondered aloud.

"You had to be under fifteen to fill out the form." Kelly explained.

"Ok...hold on.." Connor paused to think. "Let me get this straight, you sent Kim a letter telling her to set up a school in Reefside and signed it with Alex's name.." He summed up.

"You what?!"

* * *

AN: Christmas in the summer. I felt like write a small Christmas story. I hope you guys like it and now you can review.

BN: There was one question about the last chapter, the end paragraph was Kira's thoughts, not the song – I had confusion on that as well when I first read it. Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter, I hope you all like this one as well : )


	8. One More Time II

_Recap:_

"_Let me get this straight, you sent Kim a letter telling her to set up a school in Reefside and signed it with Alex's name…" Connor summed up._

"_You what?!" _

* * *

**Chapter 8: One more time II**

"Um..Jason.." Kira began after a few moments of shocked silence. "I can explain."

"Then explain." Jason crossed his arms over his chest and looked over at her.

"Well..um..yeah…you know.." Kira started slowly, not quite sure how to explain.

"What Kira means to say," Connor put in. "Is that we sent a letter to Kim so we could…er…meet another ranger."

"Sure you did." Jason smirked, brow arching. "Guess you forgot that Tommy and I used to be rangers and we're perfectly open to answering any and all questions."

Kelly sighed. "Ok," She confessed, knowing that Jason wouldn't buy any of their lies (seeing as none of them seemed to be good liars). "We're trying to get Dr. O and Kim back together."

Jason laughed. "Obviously. And why didn't any of you tell me? I'd like to play match-maker as well." He said pouting slightly in a playful way, looking very much like his daughter – though he was serious in wanting to know why they hadn't come to him.

The pink ranger shrugged slightly and thought. "I guess we figured you wouldn't want to..Hayley didn't want to help us.."

"Can you tell us more about them?" Connor asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Who?" Jason blinked and looked around at them, seeming honestly confused. The current rangers exchanged a glance. For a lawyer he sure was clueless.

"The two people we've been talking about." Kira said, trying to hold back her laughs.

"Oh! Kim and Tommy." He laughed and took a seat. "What do you want to know he asked?"

"Oh everything." Kelly said, leaning back and gently resting her head against Trent's knees. "How it all began is probably the best place to begin though." She added with a smile.

Jason grinned and nodded. "Well, once upon a time…" He laughed and ducked the pillow Ethan threw. "Alright alright. It all began when Tommy moved to Angel Grove. He and I had this karate match and that's how we all first met him. According to Trini, Kim's exact words as she saw him were 'He's cute'."

"So it was love at first sight then?" Ethan questioned.

The story-teller nodded. "It was, it only gets better too. The next day at school Bulk and Skull – these two bullies at the school..they were pretty lame for bullies actually." He laughed. "They always did the funniest things…Anyway, they started messing around with her and Tommy came to her rescue. So she invited him to join us at Ernie's…which was our version of your Hayley's. He didn't show up though, because he was too busy becoming evil."

"What?!" Was Connor's surprised reaction.

Jason frowned. "You guys did know that he was evil, right?" He asked slowly.

Kira smirked slightly. "Forgive his stupidity and go on."

Jason smiled and nodded. "When he became evil Kim tired her hardest to make him good. Eventually we saved him from being the evil green ranger and they danced around with each other, like a few other people I know." He added, chuckling as he looked around at the slightly blushing group. "They finally became a couple and they were the perfect couple…But Kim was offered the chance to go to the Pan Global Gymnastic Games and she took it, giving her powers to Kat.."

"Is that why they broke up?" Trent asked curiously.

Jason shook his head, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "See Kim got to Florida and found herself alone. She met another gymnast, named Bryan, who started flirting with her. She gave in. She wrote a break-up letter to Tommy saying how she loved him as a brother and still wanted them to be friends. Still, they never did become friends. A little bit after she sent the letter she and Bryan broke up..But by that time Kat and Tommy had just started going out."

"Ouch.." Connor whispered. "That's gotta hurt."

"Oh it did." Jason nodded and sighed. "Things were quiet for a while until Kim and I were kidnapped. Tommy and the other rangers, back then Kat, Adam, Justin and Tanya, came to save us. From what I heard from my wife Tommy's face just fell when he saw Kim…It was a bit of a role reversal on their part – because, you see, she and I had become evil and Kim had a strong wanting to destroy the new pink ranger. Kat would've died if Tommy hadn't used his love to break the spell and then Kim helped to save Kat…Soon after that Tommy and Kat broke up – no one knows why exactly, though we all guess it had to do with Kim…As for Kim and Tommy they never saw each other again except for Trini's funeral – the only problem is that they both still love each other and are too stupid to do anything about it."

"How do you know all this?" Ethan asked once Jason had finished.

"How _don't _I know?" The former red laughed. "Tommy is my best friend and I knew Kimberly since I was five. They won't admit it, but I know that they still have feelings for each other." He said quietly, speaking from the heart. He averted his eyes to the floor in a moment of quiet reflection before looking over to the new pink ranger. "So, what did you do?"

"I sent her a letter that had a lot to do with the fact that the Power Rangers are in Reefside…From what Hayley and Tommy say Kim was the heart of the team. She knew how to help people when they were hurting…I hoped that the letter would catch her attention and bring her to Reefside." Kelly explained.

Jason laughed again, talking about the power rangers was a sure way to get anyone's attention. "It will, don't worry – but what's this about Alex?"

"Well.." She continued, hugging a knee to her chest. "You had to be under fifteen to submit the form for the school."

He nodded. "Alright, now how do we explain this to him?"

"We don't know.."

* * *

Tommy leaned back against the head board of his bed. He flipped absent-mindedly through one of his many photo albums, pausing on a picture of his last Christmas with Kim. It was after she had already left and gone to Florida, yet come back for Christmas to make sure everything was alright. The day held many lasts for them both, a last kiss, a last hug, a last glance and a last 'I love you.' That day had brought him so much happiness, yet at the same time so much pain.

He traced his finger over the picture slowly. It was a picture of their last kiss, beneath the mistle toe – slyly taken by Billy. It was his favorite picture and his most hated. It reminded him very much of the ending of the Spider-Man movie. Kim was his gift and Kim was his curse.

* * *

_ Why does life torture me so? Is it amusing to always see me in such pain? It's only because of Life that I'm close to him, but at the same time we're so far away. All I want is for him to hold me close to him…I know that it may sound a bit girly, but hey even a punk singer can be girly at times…I love him…I love him more than he'll ever know…It's so crazy, how we pick our complete opposite to fall in love with. He's the king of the jocks, the future prom king and who am I? I'm the social outcast that nobody gives about.._

"Kira?" A gentle voice broke through my thoughts. It was him, the one I loved. "Can I talk to you?" He asked.

_ Of coarse_, I thought. I didn't care what we talked about, just being with him was wonderful. "Sure, Con, what can I help you with?"

"I wanted to give you this…" He handed me a small black box.

I took it and raised a brow as I looked at him, wondering what it was and if this was simply a prank and hidden inside was his gym socks or something. Never the less I opened it, gasping as I saw the gold bracelet. "Oh Connor…I…I don't know what to say.."

He sighed. "I'm sorry…I knew you'd hate it…"

"No! No!" I laughed at how wrong he was. "It's perfect.." I whispered.

"Turn it around.." He sounded nervous, which made me eager to see what was on the other side.

I turned it over slowly and carefully read the small inscription. '**To Kira, the best friend a guy could have.'** Friend. There it was again. That horrible, evil, vile, heart-breaking word. Still it was better than nothing. In fact it was perfect, for she'd rather be his 'best friend' than a nobody in his eyes. "Connor, I love you." I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him gently, only moments later realizing what I had said and being in too much of a shock to let him go or try and laugh it off.

"I love you too, sweetie. Thank you for being such a great friend…" He told me gently.

I thought he was just being nice, I thought he was just playing it off. I never even imagined that he could be telling me the truth.

* * *

_ Being alone sucks,does God just hate me or did I do something to him? What did I do to deserve all this pain? Kira's with Connor, Trent's with Kelly and who do I have…I have no one…_I sighed, I have to go and check on Robert, the assistant manager at the café. _This is crap – why do I have to go in and do this? Oh that's right, cause she bribed me by saying that if I did then the rangers would never have to pay here again…So where's Robert?_ I looked around curiously, not seeing anyone but a lone girl sitting at one of the computers. I looked her over slowly, finding her familiar, and walked over for a closer look._ She's playing Tony Hawk.._ I smiled. _Talk about my kind of girl…who is she on Ethan, be a man!_

"Excuse me."

At the sound of his voice the girl turned around and I was shocked to find Cassidy. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Uh.." I blinked my shock away. "Tony Hawk, huh? I never figured that you'd be a video game kind of girl."

She shrugged. "A girl's gotta play – plus Ethan, it's not like I like all video games, just this one."

"Guess you're right…" I glanced around. "Where's Devon?" He was almost always with her, it was odd to see her alone. I guessed that was why I didn't recognize her at first.

"In New York – with his family." She answered simply.

"And your family?" I questioned.

"Gone on business to some random place." She answered. Something flicked in her eyes, though I couldn't tell what it was, it was gone too quickly.

"You're alone for Christmas?" At least I wasn't alone, I had the other rangers to be with me. Cassidy had no one.

She blushed at my comment. "Yeah, guess so.."

I decided to change the topic. "Can I hang and play with you?"

"Sure, I guess I wouldn't mind a little competition." She smiled ever so slightly as I pulled up a chair.

"Ready to get your butt kicked, Cass?"

"Only by you." She winked teasingly and her smile grew before we both turned and began to play.

* * *

"Daddy?"

"Yes, honey?" Jason walked over, lifting his daughter and then taking her vacated seat, placing her gently down in his lap.

'When is Mommy coming back?" She asked quietly, her bright little eyes shining with hope.

Jason couldn't look away from her, even though he wanted to. She looked so much like her mother –her hair, her smile, her eyes and the way he could always tell what she was feeling through her eyes. "I don't know.." He whispered, unable to tell her the truth, unable to tell her that her mother was never coming back.

"Can Naley be my new mom?" She questioned, playing absent-mindedly with a button on his shirt, yet her eyes were locked on his.

"Hayley, sweetie." He had a gift of patience with his daughter, perhaps not with himself or others – though with his daughter he was always kind and was always loving.

"Naley." She repeated. She was trying, that was obvious, she just wasn't old enough to say it properly just yet.

Her father smiled and shook his head, giving up. "I don't know.." He answered once more. "Only time will tell…don't tell her about this though ok?"

"Ok!" She saluted him happily, earning a deep laugh.

"Go play, sweetie." He grinned happily as she slipped from his lap and headed off, waving her little hand at him before disappearing from the room, leaving Jason alone with his thoughts.

* * *

"So.." I began quietly. "Do you want your present?" I asked, fidgeting slightly. I liked her about ten times more than I ever liked Kira. She's my angel, my pink angel, and making her happy meant the world to me.

She smiled, eyes sparkling playfully. "What do you think?"

I smirked. "I think that since you won't answer my question, I won't give you your present."

She laughed. "Come on, just stop and give it to me."

"What if I don't want to?" I teased, loving to see her smile.

"I might have to kill you." She answered, smile growing as their teasing continued.

"I don't think you can." I told her matter of factly.

"And why not?" She placed her hands on her hips, a brow raised as she looked over at me.

"You like me too much to kill me." I told her, earning a smile, though no reply. We simply stared at each other for a while before she spoke again.

"So are you gonna give it to me or not?" She questioned.

I laughed. "A kiss first."

She rolled her eyes playfully before leaning in and giving me a small peck on the cheek.

I paused. "I didn't think you would do that.." I told her honestly.

"Well I did." She smiled. "I want my present now." She added, reaching out to run her fingers through my dark hair, gentle affection shining through her eyes, as well as a bit of satisfaction – at knowing that she had surprised me.

I stared into her eyes a moment more before nodding, feeling my nervousness rising once again. "I got you two things.." I handed her a folder with a small yellow rose taped to it.

Kelly smiled slightly, running her fingers over the soft petals before opening the folder. Inside was a drawing of her, sitting on a swing, her eyes on the sky – a supergirl costume covering her body. "Sorry..I can only draw super heroes…" I explained.

She smiled. "Oh Trent, I love it..this has to be the best present that I've gotten..thank you.." She whispered honestly.

I felt a slight blush rising up. "Close your eyes, I want to give you the other one."

Kelly smirked, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Alright." She slowly closed her eyes, slyly opening one and peaking around.

"Close them." I laughed, her laughter soon joining mine as I tickled her side gently.

"Ok! Ok, Trent!" I stopped tickling, leaving us both breathless yet smiling for a moment before her eyes closed.

A light blush came to her cheeks as my warm hand brushed against her neck. "Open." I whispered into her ear, hoping she liked the gift.

Kelly's eyes opened and she gazed around, her eyes landing on the silver locket around her neck. She gasped softly and smiled, eyes glowing with happiness.

"Open it." I told her gently. She did so, her smile growing as she saw the picture of all six of the rangers.

"Oh Trent you're the best!" She moved closer, wrapping her arms around him tightly, her head resting on his shoulder.

"So I take it you like them?" I asked with a laugh, placing my hands on her waist.

"I love them…" She whispered, mentally adding _'And I love you too, Trent..'

* * *

_

Hayley glanced around the cyber-café, in search of Ethan. Ethan had promised that he could call her when he arrived there – yet never did. She had gotten worried after a while and was now in search of him. He wasn't that hard to find, she found him easily enough, in the corner playing video games with Cassidy. _I'll_ _kill him…_She thought before shouting over. "Hey! Ethan!"

Ethan turned around and mentally groaned – he had just remembered about the call. "I'm so sorry, Hayley…I was just kind of busy, I forgot."

"Busy? Huh?" She glanced to Cassidy with a raised brow, smirking as both blushed.

"I'm really sorry, Hayley.." Ethan continued.

"Don't be." Hayley smiled. "Forget it."

Ethan smiled now. "Thanks, Hayley…"

"One more thing though.." She began to walk towards the door.

"And what's that?" Ethan questioned when she didn't continue.

Her smirk widened. "Look up." She said, before disappearing to the back of the store.

The two blushed deeply as they they looked up to find mistletoe.

Ethan coughed. "So..um..do you want to..er…follow tradition? I mean it is traditon, but then again rules are meant to be broken…Then again if you're really into tradition and you want to…I mean…well..Shouldn't we? Should we? I-"

Cassidy stood up. "Ethan?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up and kiss me." With that they both leaned in and what started as a small kiss soon turned into a full force snogging session. That is until the need for air was too great and they broke apart.

"Wow.." Ethan whispered, smiling slightly over at her.

Cassidy smiled. "So, you gonna ask me out, or was that a reasonless make-out?"

"Well.." Ethan began. "What're you doing next Saturday?"

"If I'm lucky, I'll be with you."

"Looks like it's your lucky day.."

* * *

Kimberley sighed, walking into her small house. She slipped off her jacket and hung it up, before heading into her bedroom – letters in hand. They mostly said the same thing, so she was having a difficult time finding that 'special one'. It didn't help that she was in a bad mood and she was hoping that her mood wouldn't cause her to overlook the right one.

It wasn't as though her mood could be helped, though. After all it was Christmas and no one liked to be alone for Christmas. Dating had been so much easier as a ranger. She laughed. Of coarse it had been easier – she had Tommy. He had been her one true love and she still beat herself up about letting him slip away. He was her 'what if'guy, because the what ifs were endless.

Another sigh escaped her lips. She lifted the letters, hoping that they'd take her mind off of Tommy. She opened one after another after another – they were all of the same old borning nonsense. "Just one more.." She said quietly, knowing that it was late and that she was tired.

Alex Roberts

Reefside, CA

Dear Ms. Hart,

Reefside is an extraordinary town with many extraordinary people. Yet it's also far from what you'd consider to be a 'normal town'. You see, lately we've been plagued with monster attacks! If it weren't for the Power Rangers I probably would've even be able to send you this letter. They're great and they protect us all - but we still have the fear of another attack. I think your school would be perfect there, because it would be a safe place for us kids to go to get our minds off of the monster attacks. Thank you for your time, I hope to see you in Reefside.

Love,

Alex

"Ding ding ding…we have a winner.." Kim whispered, placing the letter carefully on her bedside table. She lifted her phone and dialed the number of her personal assistant. "Hi Susie..I need you to book a flight to California for me, as well as a hotel reservation…Reefside…Thanks, bye Susie…"

As she hung up her mind drifted back to Tommy. She smiled, finding it ironic that in her attempt to get her mind off of him – she had only found more fuel for the fire…

* * *

AN: Ok, Candy fans don't kill me yet; you may find a little surprise coming up. Before you say anything, I did put Ethan and Cassidy together in one chapter, while everyone else had been flirting around since chapter one. It's just that both of them don't seem like the type to beat around the bush. I hoped you like the chapter and now you can review and tell me what you think.

BN: Um…speechless…lol..YAY KIM!


	9. The End of the Begining

AN: Here's another chapter for you. I had a little bit of a writer's block while writing it. I had to deal with Kim coming and working a storyline for both Alex and Devin. I found one for both. Alex's won't be big or for a few chapters but it may be a little out there but I will leave a hint in this chapter. As for Devin, my beta told me to make him gay (which I was for a while) but I think this storyline is better. Now you can read.

Beta : dies wheee, I love Devin..shoulda been gay but…oi…I'm not the one with the ideas, I just help to write them : ) Enjoy

**This is a rewrite of my unedited post that I posted earlier this week.**

* * *

"Do you think we should tell them?" 

"I'm not sure…"

"They _are_ my best friends, Cass…they have the right…"

"I know…"

"So why do you want to hide us?"

Two weeks ago Ethan and Cassidy had begun to date. They decided then not to tell anyone, at least not for a while. Yet, two weeks later, Ethan was having second thoughts. He liked Cassidy very much, but he hated all of the lying to his friends that came along with dating her. He hated the sneaking around and the crazy stories he had to make up when going out with her. He'd rather just say 'Bye guys, I'm going out with Cass tonight!', rather than lying to them.

Ethan hid a smile. It would also mean bragging rights for being the first of the guys, even the 'wonderful amazing sexy' Connor, to have a girlfriend. And it meant being able to talk with Kira more, asking advice on what to do and say. But no, instead it was all just a bunch of lies.

He sighed and looked over to Cassidy, who was staring at the ground.

Cass wasn't sure why she wanted to hide. She hated to admit, though she thought that maybe it was because she was afraid; afraid that people would reject them as a couple. Society wasn't always welcoming of inter-racial couples and not to mention that they had two different sets of friends, two different families, two different worlds that they both lived in. What would their families think? What would their friends think?

Those weren't her only worries though. She was worried about things working out strictly between her and Ethan. What if things didn't work out? What if hindered her career? Her career was her life; she worked so hard at it. Yet, Ethan…

Ethan could make her laugh, he made her smile. He was the reason she wanted to get up each morning and greet the new day! Because with Ethan that day was worth living! He made her so happy.

Cassidy thought about this for a moment. Here he was, putting his heart and soul into making her happy – when she was standing between him and his friends, not wanting them to know. She finally nodded. "Tell Kira and Connor." She said quietly. Ethan looked ready to jump into the air before she continued. "But…" She hesitated. "Don't tell anyone else, at least not before I tell Devin…ok?"

Ethan nodded and smiled. He could live with that, he was just happy to finally be able to tell his friends.

* * *

Alex frowned in thought, carefully examining the letter in his hands. "Why on earth did this Kimberly Hart person send this to me?" He asked aloud. He tapped his foot impatiently, standing about two feet inside of the doorway of _Hayley's_. 

Kelly gasped sharply once she heard him and rushed over, grabbing his arm and dragging him over to a table. She sat him down and told him to hush. "Oi! Trent! Connor! Kira!" She ushered them over quickly and once they were all there she snatched the letter out of Alex's hands, ignoring his 'Hey!' of protest, and showed it to them.

Alex tried to grab it back, yet Kira got to it first. She opened it quickly and began to read it to herself, not wanting anyone to overhear, and the others gathered around to read over her shoulder. Once they had finished they all stood in silence before Kira whispered, "She's coming here…"

"Yeah and she's coming tomorrow.." Connor added.

"Can she do that? I mean…we aren't prepared at all for this, it's so early…we had no warning..." Kelly began, yet she knew it was useless. They had no way of asking for more time. Kim was coming tomorrow and they had to deal with that.

"We at least had a day advance…" Trent put in. "And she said that she wants to meet him and his 'friends' – aka us! – un front of the high school after school..."

Kira nodded before saying. "We need to call Jason."

"And Ethan." Added Connor.

"And me!" Alex stood up from the chair where Kelly had been keeping him. "Can somebody _please_ tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Alex." Connor seemed to jump into leader mode as he spoke. "We need your help."

"And I need an explanation." Alex retorted.

"What do you think of Dr. O?" Connor asked, seemingly ignoring Alex's question.

Alex's nose scrunched up slightly and he looked confused. "I don't know…he's a cool teacher I guess…" He was speaking from experience, for Dr Oliver taught freshman honors biology.

"Well, you'd like to see him happy right?" Kelly said gently.

"Sure…why not?" He stilled seemed confused.

"Then we need your help." Kira smiled simply, loving that they still hadn't told him what was going on.

"And what's in it for me?" Alex asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The satisfaction of knowing you're making Dr. Oliver happy." Kelly smiled brightly, eyes sparkling excitedly.

Alex raised a brow. "I'm serious."

Trent rolled his eyes. "So is she…but…hmm…I suppose less homework, from him."

"Yeah, right." He was sarcastic in his answer.

"Twenty bucks," Connor finally said, tired of all of the going back and forth.

"That's it?" Alex was ready to help, though at a price if he wasn't going to get an explanation.

"Fifty!" Kira practically shouted. "Please, Alex, please just do this for us…Not for us even, just for Dr O, he does so much…please."

"Ok," Alex gave in. "But first, what am I doing exactly?"

"Just let us come with you tomorrow," Kira began.

"And talk to her about her starting a school," Connor continued.

"Here in Reefside, of course." Kelly added.

"And help us play up the whole ranger thing, just not too obviously." Trent said.

"We'll be there the whole time, promise." Kira finished with a smile as Alex nodded.

"Ok, sure…But why me? Why isn't it one of you guys?" Alex questioned.

Kelly sighed with relief and thanked him before launching into the story. "Kim wants to start a school here in the US, so she's having a contest where kids can send in forms telling her why their town should be where she starts her school. The problem is that fifteen is the lowest you could be to submit…I'm 16 and the youngest in the group, but then you came along and voila! So..." She blushed a little. "I sent it in with your name."

Alex shrugged. He didn't mind. He thought it was pretty good actually. "What's the school about?"

"It's an art school," Kira began. "Music, acting, creative writing-"

"And sports!" Connor said quickly.

"And which do I do?" Alex asked.

"You're in the play aren't you?" Kira frowned, having thought that he was. His nod affirmed her thoughts.

"Yeah, but I play a tree." Alex said flatly.

"The one that the lead climbs up?" Kelly asked, having read the play script. Alex nodded in agreement to her statement and Kelly's face lit up with a smile. "See! You're practically the star!"

Alex rolled his eyes though Trent laughed. "Just say that you need a place to improve your acting skills and a place to go to get away from the rangers..." The four present rangers shared a smile.

"What-ever." Alex sighed. "Is that it? I need to get to work before Hayley sees me slacking." He didn't wait for an answer, he simply turned and left.

"Me too, guys. I'll see you later." Trent said good-bye, before leaving as well.

"Looks like it's just the three of us," Kelly began. Yet, she had barely finished her sentence when Ethan walked in and called Kira and Connor over. The brunette smiled to herself. "Looks like it's just me then." She said quietly, before going over to sit on a stool and ordering a drink from Trent, silently hoping that everything would go according to plan.

* * *

"What's up, bro?" Connor asked as he took a seat at a free table. 

Ethan sighed, looking from Connor to Kira. "What do you guys think of Cass...idy...? Cassidy?"

Connor laughed to himself. "Does it have to be nice?"

Kira completely ignored Connor and instead asked Ethan, "Why?"

"Because…" Ethan didn't want it to come out, but it did anyway. "Because I'm going out with her."

Connor went into hysterics. "Yeah right! Really, Ethan, what is it?"

"I'm not lying..." Ethan whispered.

"So...you two are really..." Kira said softly.

Ethan nodded, he couldn't speak.

There was silence until Connor said "Why?"

"Connor!" Kira scolded softly.

"I'm serious!" Connor insisted.

"Because…" Ethan began, knowing that the two could go on forever.

"Because…" Connor trailed off just as Ethan had, wanting to know the rest. He and Kira were all for Ethan having a girlfriend, but Cassidy Cornell?

Ethan shrugged. "She makes me happy..." He said honestly.

Connor shrugged as well. "As long as she makes you happy, man…but dang...Cassidy...What-ever. Glad you have her." He smiled and Kira did as well.

Ethan sighed softly. "Thanks guys."

"What for?" Kira asked in confusion.

"For being such great friends." Ethan answered her.

Kira smiled. "Anytime, Ethan."

"So… enough of this sentimental crap." Connor said with a smile.

Ethan mockingly gasped. "Did Connor just use a big word?"

"It's his 'Word of the Day'" Kira added, causing her and Ethan's laughs to grow louder.

"Funny, guys." Connor laughed and rolled his eyes.

"I think so." Ethan smirked.

Connor smiled. "Make fun of me all you want, guys – I have to get going."

"Where are you going, Mr. McKnight?" Ethan asked curiously, leaning back in his chair.

"I have a date." Connor said in a proud voice.

Ethan chuckled. "Looks like the 'oh so manly' McKnight finally has a girl, rather than just talking about having one." He and Kira laughed again.

"Why do you two like to make so much fun of me?" Connor asked, his cheeks slightly tinted with a hint of red, though his eyes sparkled with laughs.

"Cause its fun…and easy, real easy," Kira answered with a bright grin. "Who's the date with, though?"

"Emily." Connor said simply.

"Ooh, hot blonde, right on, Connor!" Ethan encouraged.

Kira rolled her eyes. "Pigs." She muttered.

Connor smirked. "Well this, 'pig' has to be going before he's late." He gave one last smile before leaving the café.

"You alright, Kira?" Ethan asked once Connor had left.

"What?" Kira turned and looked confused, not having been paying attention.

"Are you ok?" Ethan asked again. "About Connor's date?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She asked.

Ethan raised a brow. "Kira, don't play stupid. You aren't hiding anything from me."

Kira turned her face away. "I'll live." She answered, a tear slipping down her cheek. She loved Ethan for trying, but it just made things hurt more.

Ethan sighed, spotting the tear. He reached out and wiped it away gently. "Look, if he can't see what a great girl you are, then he doesn't deserve you..."

Kira smiled, reaching out and hugging him gently. Ethan stood still at first, being a little taken aback, though he ended up smiling and hugging her back.

* * *

"So..." Connor began as he walked his date down the street. "How did you like the movie?" 

"It was alright," Emily, his date, told him. "Though it wasn't the movie I was looking at."

Her directness surprised Connor; he wasn't quite sure how to reply. He looked her over trying to decide what else to say. She wasn't dressed extravagantly, just in some tight jeans and a sweatshirt with ducks on them. She was only 5'4", yet she knew just how to make everyone feel small. "What's with the ducks?" He decided to ask.

"You got something against ducks?" She asked, frowning.

"No," Connor answered quickly. "Just wondering."

Emily nodded, though said nothing in response except to ask. "What now?"

"Pizza?" Connor suggested, nodding to the pizza shop they were currently walking past.

"Sure, why not?" Was her short reply.

Connor led the way inside and over to a table. They ordered a medium plain pizza before beginning to talk once again.

"So, what do you like to do?" Connor asked.

"Dance." Emily replied simply. "I'm on the school's dance team."

"Very cool..." He began in reply. "And sexy." He added, switching on the McKnight charm.

"So, superstar." She said tauntingly. "What else do you do besides play soccer?"

"Well...I have a part time job." He answered slowly.

"Oh really?" She sounded as if she were trying to be interested. "What do you do?"

Connor was reluctant to say though he did. "I'm an assistant for Dr. O…"

"Really?" This caught her attention. "Why would he hire you?" She added with a frown.

He groaned. "Is it that hard to believe that I'm smart?"

"Umm…yea!" She said with a laugh and an eye roll.

"Well, thanks for being truthful." He said as the pizza arrived.

She shrugged. "What-ever." She reached out and pulled a slice of pizza from the pie, tossing it down onto her plate before taking a drink. "So what's with your friend?" When he looked confused she continued. "That fake wanna-be rock star girlie."

"Don't call her that." Connor said. His lips changed into a frown and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"You call her that." Emily pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.

Connor shook his head. "Well that's different. We're friends and that's what me and her do, we make fun of each other."

"So…you two are pretty close then?" Em retorted with a raised brow.

He nodded, eyes glazing over ever so slightly. "Yea...Real close."

"Oh really?" She smirked.

Connor's cheeks flushed as he snapped back to reality. "Not like that."

Emily said nothing, only smirked as she looked at him.

Connor sighed in exasperation. "She's just a friend, ok? She's nice."

"How nice?" Emily replied in an almost taunting manner.

The boy across from her pouted slightly. "We're on a date." He said switching the subject with ease. "Why are we talking about another girl?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "I'm tired of pretending to like you." She said almost snappishly. "I'm sure that you're sick of pretending to like me as well."

Connor's eyes had never been as wide as they were in that moment. He'd say it was the last thing he had expected her to say – yet never in a million years would he haved even imagined her saying that.

She laughed. "So it's true then."

"Well…" Connor began slowly, still in a slight shock. "Yeah, but...wow…I just…"

"Alright then! That settles it. I'm done eating, so why won't we just end this now, mm'kay?" She stood up, obviously not caring if he said no or not to the ending of the date.

"Um…alright…do you need a ride or something?"

Em shook her head. "I'm cool. See you around, hot stuff." With one last smile and wink she was gone.

Connor shook his head as he watched her go. "I do not understand women..." He muttered, rising to his feet. He smiled a bit, spotting Cassidy and Devin walking in as he was heading for the door. "Hey, Cassidy, congratulations on you and Ethan getting together – You two make one heck of a couple." He said with a grin before leaving the restaurant, not knowing the disaster he had left behind….

* * *

"Cassidy…" Devin began, frowning deeply as he looked over at her, anger and hurt flashing through his eyes. "What the hell is he talking about?" 

"Devin, chill...ok? I was trying to tell you…" Cassidy began, a bit of hopelessness seeping through into her voice.

"So it's true then." It wasn't a question. He took a step back, away from her.

She only nodded, not knowing what else to say to her friend.

"Why does he know before me? Why didn't you tell me?" Devin's voice rose and by the end he was shouting.

"Ethan and I only decided to tell people today, it took us a long time to decide how to go about telling you guys…" Cassidy tried to explain.

"How long has this been going on?" He asked.

"Devin, I-" She tried, though Devin wasn't finished.

"All this time you've been lying to me! We're friends, Cassidy! Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Devin, no, it's not like that. I wanted to-" And again she was cut off.

"Tell someone who cares." He hissed coldly, turning and storming out of the restaurant.

Cassidy watched him go, completely lost to as why her friend reacted in the way he did…

* * *

"Ok, so she's coming tomorrow then, right?" Jason asked into the phone's receiver. "You're sure about this." 

Across town Kira nodding, knowing that the man she was on the phone with wouldn't see. "Alex just got the letter today and that's what it said."

"Alex knows now, I assume. Is he going to help?" Jason questioned.

Again she nodded, again he couldn't see it. Nor could he see the small frown upon her face. "For a price. We're giving him fifty."

Jason couldn't help the laugh. "Smart kid, I would've done the same thing."

"Really?" Kira asked in surprise.

"No," Jason replied, laughing still. "But I know people who would've. Now, do you need me to do anything for you guys?"

"Yeah," Kira began. "Could you keep Dr. O in his science room? We don't want any meetings of our little pink and black friends before the right time."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Oh that'll be easy." He muttered sarcastically. "They have like a radar for each other, I swear. They always know when there other's around..."

"Well then, we'll just have to hope it's worn off a bit in the past few years."

Jason made a soft noise of agreement, yet nothing more.

"But I need to be going. So thanks Jason, love ya so much!"

"Not as much as you love Connor." Jason teased.

"Funny Jason, real funny." She was glad they were talking over the phone, he couldn't see her blush.

"Bye, Kira." Jason sang softly, laughter in his voice.

"Tell Julie I said 'hi'. See you both later!"

With a soft 'click' both phones were hung up.

Jason smiled, walking over to his excited little girl. "Kira said 'hi', Jules."

"I say hi back!" Julie replied with a bright grin.

Jason smiled, looking up as he heard someone enter the room.

"You talked to Kira?" Tommy asked.

Jason nodded. "I did." He said simply.

"Bout?" Tommy questioned, running his fingers through his hair.

"Nothing important." Jason said with a smirk. He was sure that if Tommy hadn't been so tired he would've pushed it, though he didn't. Tommy only shrugged and nodded, turning and heading off to bed…

* * *

AN: I still don't own DinoThunder and Power Rangers. I'm 99.9 sure that Disney owns them. I want to thank music and the PSATs for inspiring me to finish this. I tried to make this a 'trio' chapter. And friendly reminders don't eat too many bananas. Oh and remember that that was written before I posted the 8th chapter (This would be the 9th) and after the Dino Thunder Season Finale (Which I thought was great, all of it. It would be prefect if it had some Kira/Connor and Kim.) Sorry, it's been a while 

BN: BN is beta notes and Barnes and noble, WHOOT for me! So sorry that this one took me so long to get out, so little time so much to do…I hope you like it though...I already have the next chapter and will start working on it right away: ) Peace out guys.


	10. The End of the Begining II

AN: I still don't own the Power Rangers, I'm almost sure that Disney owns the rights of Power Rangers. I want to thank the cast call description of the DT Characters which I found online. (The description of the people, when the cast was auditioning for their parts.). They changed a lot of things, between the auditions of DT and the starting of shooting. Connor's last name was 'Ross' and he played basketball. Kira had a part time job at a daycare center. There was no Tommy, but a Dr. Edward Payne. (I'm guessing in case that Jason didn't want to come back.) Devin "Fong" (It's now De Vella, I think) was meant to Asian (Which is why the last name was changed). He was also in a band. Trent Fernandez/Mercer was Trent Gonzales. Mercer was meant to be his uncle, not adoptive father. I couldn't find one for anyone else. Well anyway beside the changes, it was very insightful and inspiring. Now on to the story…. And the premiere of Kim in Reefside…Wow this long and I keep going…..Now here is really the story. Oh and remember that that was written before I posted the 8th chapter (This would be the 10th)

* * *

Kira inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly. "You ready?" She asked Trent, glancing over to him as they exited their algebra two class together.

"You mean to start lying?" Trent frowned. He didn't like the idea of lying, even if it would have a good end result – it was still lying.

"Oh, pish posh." Kira said, waving her hand about as if his words were smoke that she was fanning away. "Don't think of it as lying; just think of it as stretching the truth to better the lives of both her and Dr. O."

Trent shook his head. "It still feels wrong..."

"Don't think of it like that!" She insisted. "Just think of how happy they'll be once they're together."

"But," He began sadly. "What if they don't really belong together? It's been a long time, they might've changed…what if we just end up with them hating each other….We don't belong together and it would be so hard to accept that if we had people trying to force us to be together.."

"We aren't the same, Trent." Kira retorted. "They're different people, different lives, different situations. They were together for so long and they were in love. They only broke apart because of the distance..."

"But still…what if they just aren't meant to be?"

"Trent, we could do this now and then we'd know or we could just forget all about it, not meet her, have her think we ditched and she'll go home and we'll never know if they would've been perfect together…This won't ruin their lives if they come together to find they don't match up, they'll get over it…but it could ruin their lives if they never know and live through life never knowing.." She opened the door slowly and glanced into the outside world. "You coming?"

"Not like I have a choice after what you said." Trent gave her a small smile, though took in a deep breath – not sure if he was ready for this, but still determined to go through with it anyway.

* * *

"Ethan!" Connor called into the Spanish class where his friend was still sitting.

"One sec, man." Ethan replied, standing and walking over to Cassidy. "Hey..."

"Hey Ethan..." Her tone wasn't its usually happy one, it was sad, let down, depressed. He hated to hear her so upset.

"What is it?" He whispered, reaching up to brush a bit of hair from her face. "Did you tell him?" He glanced over to Devin, who was angrily packing up his things.

Cassidy shook his head. "Connor did..."

"What! How?" Ethan asked in shock.

"I don't know…it happened so fast..." She mentally groaned when she saw the anger in his eyes. "Don't be mad…It really isn't his fault..." She began, not wanting to start another fight between another set of best friends.

Ethan sighed softly. "Alright…how are things between you and Devin then?" He asked his girlfriend.

"It will get better." Cassidy answered confidently, bright smile on her face. _I hope…_She mentally added to herself.

Ethan gave her a smile and nodded, taking her hand. "I hate to leave you, but I've got to get going. You'll be ok?"

She nodded. "Of course, go have fun." She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.

"You're the best, Cass." He told her gently before going and walking over to Connor, who gave a shudder.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that..."

"You better." Ethan retorted jokingly.

"Yeah, right after I throw up." Connor said with an eye roll, turning and heading off down the hall.

Ethan laughed, walking beside his friend. "How was your date the other night?"

"It sucked." Was the answer, yet it wasn't from Connor.

The two turned around only to see Emily. "Hey, Em." Connor said. "How's it going?"

"You need to stop talking so loudly." Was her only response and it was to Ethan. With that she turned and walked off down another hallway.

"I won't even ask." Ethan said, hands up in surrender. He then froze as he looked over his friend. "Hey! You're not wearing red!"

"Oh, really?" Connor smirked, pulling up his jeans slightly to reveal red socks.

"Yeah, but you're not visibly wearing red…you're wearing blue...Blue is my colour." The blue ranger said pointedly.

"No really, I didn't notice." Connor answered sarcastically. Ethan gave him a look that told him he wanted answers, so with a sigh Connor began to give them. "Kim's a smart girl, who knows the signs of rangers, seeing as she was one at one time. We can't lead her on at any time or we risk blowing our cover and ruining everything."

Ethan faked a look of surprise. "Wait…so you actually thought about all of this?"

Connor playfully punched his friend's arm. "Funny, Ethan." He said sarcastically.

"I try." Ethan smirked. "Did you tell anyone else?"

"Kelly's going to wear white." Connor said, though that was it.

Ethan sighed. "So you tell Kelly, but not your best friends – aka : Kira and me?"

"We'd all end up wearing someone else's colour and things would just get messed up." Connor explained, though Ethan still looked confused so Connor continued. "Ok, look. Say I wear blue, Kira wears pink, Kelly wears red, Trent wears yellow and you wear white. We'd all be wearing different colours, yet we'd still be wearing the same colours of the rangers. It would be a dead give away."

Ethan smirked. "Plus I doubt you could ever stand to have anyone play the part of the red ranger leader." He said with a laugh.

Connor rolled his eyes, though he supposed it was true. He liked being the leader. "Anyway, it all works out. This way both you and me are wearing blue, Kira's still in yellow, and both Trent and Kelly are in white. We couldn't be mistaken for the rangers when we have people wearing the same colours."

Ethan looked impressed. "You really thought this whole thing out didn't you?"

"If we're going to do this – we're doing it right." Connor said in a determined voice, pushing the door open.

Ethan sighed. "Here goes nothing..." He muttered, heading out the door…

* * *

Kelly tapped her foot impatiently, leaning against the wall. She was waiting outside of Dr. Oliver's classroom, where Alex had just finished biology. All of the other students had left the room, she was sure that Alex was just taking his sweet ol' time getting himself out.

"Looking for me?" A cocky voice said, pulling Kelly from her thoughts. Alex exited the room, looking her over. "You alright? You don't look so well…"

Kelly looked around before answering. "I'm just a little nervous about pulling all of this off, ya know..." She admitted softly.

The younger boy nodded in understanding. "Well, I think that this could go two ways. We're all obviously hoping for it to go the first way, when it works and we all get less homework. But if it doesn't…"

"Then what?"

"Well..." Alex began. "You've seen him mad, right?"

Kelly nodded, averting her eyes for a moment. _More than you know,_ She thought to herself.

All the rangers had to go through training, with Tommy as the instructor. Sometimes it was one on one other times it was group work. Tommy would never yell at them if they messed up, yet it was easily seen in his eyes, heard in his voice. They all knew he was hard on them because he cared about them, he didn't want to see them hurt in battle. But it also made it hard on them, or at least her, to disappoint him by messing up.

"Kell?" Alex repeated, the first two calls of her name going unheard to her.

"Hm?" Kelly shook her head to clear her thoughts from her mind.

"You alright?"

"Yes." The answer was short and quick, Alex didn't push it. He didn't have the chance to anyway. She was already moving on to a different subject. "Isn't he supposed to stay in his room?" Kelly asked. "He's still in there now…but won't he leave eventually..." She added, speaking of Dr O.

"Jason called," Alex explained slowly. "About ten minutes before the bell rang he called. Tommy spent a good amount of time telling him off, since we were all still in class. But then he told Jason that he would be staying in his room till three before going to help Jason down at the Dojo. Which means that we just need to make sure that Kim steers clear of here and we're good."

Kelly nodded. "I hope it all goes well…"

Alex agreed with a nod, though said nothing. For a while there was silence between the two. Alex was the one to break it. "Kell, you've been here about two weeks longer than me, right?"

She thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

He thought before answering. "Well…I mean…It hasn't been too long, so...how come you're all so close?"

Kelly couldn't help but smile. "It took work; it isn't as easy as it looks. I think Connor used to hate me for a while, not hate, but you know what I mean…I think it was kinda just one of those things that was meant to be…Since day one they all made me feel happy and welcome, even Connor." She said with a grin. "They're all just really great people and I'm so glad to call them my friends…"

Alex nodded before bluntly asking. "So are you and Trent going out?"

Blush entered Kelly's cheeks. "Well that came out of no where."

The boy shrugged. "You two just seem closer…kind of like Connor and Kira; everyone knows that they're going out." He said as if everyone in the world knew about them.

Kelly smirked a bit. "You know, Alex, all of us are currently single."

"Really?" He sounded a bit surprised.

She nodded. "I wouldn't lie to you. You're like me, you're nosy – you'd find out any way." She said with a laugh. "But what about you? Any special little lady, young man?" She asked with a teasing wink.

"Young man?" He raised a brow. "I'm only a year younger then you."

"Two years." She corrected. "You just turned fifteen."

Alex blew away her comments with a wave of his hand. "A year and some odd months, no difference." He said with a grin as he remembered back to his birthday, or as everyone else called it New Years Day.

"I don't recall an answer." Kelly said with a grin as she began the walk down the short hall to the doors.

Alex smiled a bit. "Well...there is this sophomore."

"Ooh and older woman." Kelly smirked a bit. "Go on, how do you know her?"

"She's in my geometry class...but she's out of my league…she has this rule about only dating older guys." He explained.

"Maybe for you she'll make an exception. Don't give up trying." Kelly insisted.

"Or maybe it's better if I just don't put myself into a position where I know I'll end up getting hurt." He said, opening the door for her.

"But then you'll get hurt anyway, watching her date other men and knowing that you did nothing to stop it." She told him before walking outside to meet with the other rangers.

* * *

"That idiot..." Elsa muttered, referring to her ex-husband. "He's such a slob." She added, being in the process of cleaning out the lair. She pushed a few boxes aside and paused, spotting an old looking box hiding in a corner. She looked around before pulling the box towards her. She opened it slowly, sighing quietly. Right on the top was a picture of her from her past, a past that she had believed to be long gone after she had joined up with Mesogog. The picture was fairly nice looking, to most people; to her it brought no nice feelings. It was simple, her and Zeltrax sitting together in the park, back when they were stupid, back when they were humans, back when they hair their baby. The baby she had been forced to give up when she had joined the _right_ side…

* * *

"Wow..."A young woman slowly walked up the path towards the high school. She checked her watch and nodded. It was three thirty, just the time she had said she'd arrive. She spotted a group of teenagers and sighed – it was time. She looked herself over quickly. She was wearing a nice fitting pair of jeans, a pink tee-shirt and a jean jacket while a cute pair of pink sunglasses rested on the bridge of her nose. "Here goes nothing..." She muttered, taking a few more steps forward. "Alex?" She asked, hoping that she had the right group of teenagers.

None of them moved for a moment until Alex decided to step forward. "Hello, Ms. Hart..." He began, figuring that this must be Kimberly. He gave her a quick look over. She was really quiet beautiful. Dr O was lucky to have gotten her.

Kim smiled, holding out her hand. "Hey, Alex. You can call me Kim or Kimberly. Miss Kart makes me feel so old and single." She said with a laugh.

Alex gave her a small, yet shy smile. He was wondering why he felt so…intimidated by her. Usually by now he'd have pulled off some smartass comment like he always did. But he just couldn't do that with her. "Um...ok…Kimberly..."

The former pink ranger gave him a kind smile. "Hey, don't be nervous. I'm not that old, ok? Just try and treat me like I'm just a friend ok? I think it'll make it easier on both of us."

Alex nodded. "Alright, I'll try…so...um…what would you like to see first?"

"I think an introduction to your friends would be nice." She said, nodding to the five behind Alex, whom he'd temporarily forgotten about.

He nodded, turning so he could see his friends. "Alright, well this is Connor, Kira, Ethan, Trent and Kelly." He told her, pointing to each one as he said their name.

Kimberly smiled. "Pleasure meeting you all." She said politely, looking them all over, slightly surprised that they all seemed to be the same age, while Alex seemed to be younger.

"I tend to attract older friends." Alex said with a slight smirk, anticipating her question.

Kim blushed slightly though laughed. "No problems with that. So, you're ok with playing tour guide for a while?"

"Of course, I wrote the letter didn't I?" His smirk grew as he and Kelly shared a mischievous glance.

The former pink laughed. "Yes you did. So where to first?"

When Alex looked lost for an answer Connor stepped forward. "Let's tour the school."

"Sure." Kim smiled and allowed them to usher her inside. She had been blind to the fact that her former boyfriend had just driven off in his jeep behind them, though the students certainly had noticed.

* * *

"Wow..." Tommy muttered as he looked around the empty room. "I can't believe that you bought this place, Jase..."

"Well, it always has been a dream of mine to open one of these…" Jason said quietly. For the past week Jason had forced himself to keep the dojo secret, at least until the deal was finalized and the place was finally his. And now it was. It had come as a complete shock to everyone, especially Tommy, when he had told them all on New Years Eve.

"What about your degree?" Tommy asked, running his hand along the white painted walls.

Jason smiled fondly as he looked around. "What about it? You need to follow your dreams sometimes."

Tommy laughed. "You're crazy…"

"I know." Jason smirked. "That's what I get for hanging out with you all these years."

"Yeah…wait a minute…Hey!"

Jason laughed. It was good to be back.

* * *

"So..." Kim began, still laughing from a joke Connor had told. "How'd you all become friends?"

The rangers were silent, all looking at each other for an answer. Finally they all nodded and Kira answered. "Fate… It just sort of happened..."

Kim shook her head. "I still can't get used to that. You all just staring at each other and talking without talking..." It was odd to see them doing it, yet she could still remember being apart of it back when she was a ranger.

Alex sighed mentally. _Boy do I feel left out..._ He thought to himself. The other teens were all so close, they didn't even need words. "Hey..." He said suddenly. "Why don't we go and show Kim, _Hayley's_?"

"What's that?" Kim wondered aloud.

"_Hayley's Cyberspace_," Trent began. "It's a computer café/juice bar type place."

"It's our little hang out place." Kelly continued when he stopped. "Trent and Alex work there…"

Kim smiled, mind fluttering back to her days at _Ernie's_. "Sure, let's go…"

* * *

AN: The end of another chapter. I know, I know that you may be asking, when is Kim/Tommy coming? It will, it will but all great things come in time. You also may be asking about some Candy stuff, which will come too. Devin will have more of a storyline then being a jealous best friend. Something bad is happening in the story that you don't know about, yet. I think I will tell you what it is next chapter. WHHHHH...Review, I'll give you a cookies Beta whispers something into ear I can't give them, cookies. Why not? Beta whispers more stuff Ohh, cause i can't give it to them, that makes sense. Review anyway though.

BN : Wow that was fun...we both worked hard on this chap, hope you like : ) Please review and be on the look out for the next chapter, it's coming soon!


	11. And the truth comes out

The Cyber Café was silent. Well, not completely silent. It was packed with people, but there wasn't the usual noise. There was no Ethan cheering at himself for beating Level 75 of the new video game, there was no Kira up on stage singing, no Kelly chit-chatting with Trent while he argued with her to stay still while he tried to draw her, no Alex making sarcastic comments about everyone who walked in the door and no Connor to get yelled at for playing soccer inside of the café! This was certainly a first.

Hayley filled an empty class with diet coke. Ever since the team had come together one of them was _always_ in the café, unless they were fighting of coarse. And even then usually Alex would be there to help out. "Today I'm on my own I guess.." Hayley said to herself before smiling as she gave off the drink and made change of the customer's five. She leaned on the counter, laughing to herself as Trent walked inside. "And the moment is gone." She added with a fond smile as the rest followed in after him. They were more like wolves than anything else, the whole lot of them – always traveling in a pack. The rangers were at least, it was a surprise to see Alex with them seeing as Alex was usually with his own set of friends.

More often then not Alex was in the cyber café with his friend, Emily. The same Emily whom Connor had attempted to date just a while ago. Hayley was a little disapproving of her nephew's choice in friends. She had heard enough about Emily to know that she was more experienced then Hayley wished for a young girl to be, a young girl who was a year older then Alex. But still, Alex was slowly beginning to accept his parent's death and if Emily was helping that in anyway then Hayley was all for them being friends. It broke Hayley's heart at night when she's hear him crying in his room, when he thought she couldn't hear him. Though those nights were slowly disappearing and Alex seemed to be perking up a bit as time went on.

"Aunt Hayley." Alex's voice broke through Hayley's daydreams. She shook her head and gave him a smile. It was then that she noticed the woman beside her nephew. _No…no it can't be… _Hayley thought to herself, straightening up slightly.

"Who's your friend, Alex?" She asked slowly, nodding towards the adult standing among the teens.

"Umm..." Alex bit his lip, looking up at Kim – unsure of what to say or how to say it.

"Hayley," Connor began, stepping forward and saving Alex. "This is Kimberley Hart, Kimberley Hart this is Hayley." He said, glancing to Kim before looking back to Hayley. "Kim wants to open a school type thing-a-ma-bob in Reefside. Thanks to the letter written and sent in by your nephew." At this point Trent let out a few forced coughs.

Kelly glared playfully at the white ranger. "Ignore him; he's a bit of an ass. Oops, did I say that? I mean he's allergic to freshly cut grass." She said with a smirk. "It closes up his throat, makes him cough." She explained, crossing her arms over her chest, amusement sparkling in her eyes. "A good hit to the back of the head usually clears it up."

Trent reached over and ruffled her hair. "Ignore, Kelly, she's been in the chem lab too long – I think the fumes are messing with her brain."

Kelly opened her mouth to retort yet Alex covered her mouth with his hand, knowing that the two could go back and forth for hours if given the chance. It always started out cute, the way they'd tease each other – but after a while to everyone else but Trent and Kelly, it got annoying. "She gets it, you guys, you're both idiots – now please just shut up and spare us all." Alex said with a small smirk. Kelly and Trent 'huffed' in unison and rolled their eyes.

Hayley forced a laugh at the two before looking back to Kimberley. "Kimberley Hart..." She said softly, giving the group of teens quick glance that let them know they'd certainly be talking later. "Pleasure to meet you." She forced a bright smile and held out her hand.

Kimberley smiled, buying Hayley's act and shaking the other woman's hand. "Your nephew is truly inspirational, Hayley – I'm sure that you're very proud of him."

"Oh I am." Hayley threw on another fake smile – though this time Kimberley caught on.

Kim looked between Alex and Hayley slowly. _What's with her? _Kim thought to herself. _Alex and his friends were wonderful to me – how on Earth can Alex be related to her?_

"Hey Kim!" Kira said brightly, figuring that the two women should be separated before anything happens. "Wanna see the big screen TV they have in here? It's great – almost life-like!"

"With like three thousand channels!" Kelly added. They each took one of Kim's hands and began to drag her off to see the TV. Once they were out of ear shot Alex turned on Hayley.

"What the hell is your problem?" He snapped coldly. He had never spoken to his aunt like that before, but he didn't care. What Hayley had done was beyond rude and at the moment every little thing could make or break their plans of getting Dr O and Kim together – he wasn't going to let is own aunt ruin that.

"W-what?" Hayley faked an innocent look, though couldn't hide the surprise at being spoken to in such a way by her own nephew.

"You heard me!" Alex retorted, not backing down.

Hayley's eyes narrowed. "Alexander Nicholas Roberts…" She began in a threatening tone.

Alex had a bit of a smug smirk on his angry face when he next spoke. "Just following in your example, Senorita Bitchita." He responded, pretty much just saying that if she was going to be such a bitch (or bitchita as he put it) then he'd be one too.

Hayley couldn't describe the anger coursing through her veins at that moment. "Don't you have a _guest_ to get back to?" She asked spitefully, giving him a pointed look.

"Oh that's nice, very grown up, Aunt Hayley." Alex was sarcastic as ever in his speech, though he turned and headed off towards Kim and the other girls.

---------------------------------

"Hey Tommy…?" Jason began questionably, slowly walking around the empty dojo.

"Yeah, Jase?" Tommy replied. He was sitting Indian style on the ground, rummaging through a box of God-knows-what.

"Tommy, do you…" Jason stopped and looked thoughtful before shaking his head. "Nah, never mind."

"What?" Tommy looked interested.

"It's not important." Jason leaned against a white painted wall.

"Yes it is, other wise you wouldn't have brought it up. What is it?" Tommy never accepted those sorts of answers. He always wanted his friends to be open with him about everything, no matter what.

"Well…" Jason slowly started. "I was just wondering...if you like…ever just...think about...um...you know….falling in love, starting a family…" He looked over to his friend.

"Random." Tommy commented lightly.

"Are you avoiding the question?"

"No."

"Then answer it."

Tommy sighed. "Honestly? You honestly want to know?"

"I didn't ask you to only get you to lie to me. I want the truth."

Tommy sighed, leaning back against the wall behind him. "I think about it every day, Jason…I can't not think about it…." A look came over his face that Jason couldn't remember ever seeing before. A look of hope, of sadness, of passion, of so many emotions mixed together that Jason couldn't believe it was possible to see that many emotions on one face.

"If I had one goal in life..." Tommy continued. "It's always been to be happy...to have a wife and kids at my side. I love being a ranger, I do, and it makes me feel like have this great purpose in life. But a part of me is still incomplete…A part of me is still missing…" He sighed as he rose to his feet. He didn't continue for a moment, simply began to pace around. "I want a wife, I want two point three kids, I want a house with a white fence and a dog…I want it all!" He covered his face in his hands and crouched down.

"Why aren't you looking for it then?" Jason asked. He didn't move towards his friend, he understood that Tommy needed his space.

"It's…complicated…" Tommy whispered softly, sighing quietly.

"Like you're too busy saving the world to have a personal life complicated?" Jason asked with a raised brow.

Tommy nodded sadly, lying down on the floor, legs and arms spread out like he was making a snow angel in the carpet. "It's just hard looking for love when there's that threat of being killed every single day…I hate putting people in danger and I hate lying! If I'm with someone I feel that need to be honest with them, but you remember Zordon's rule as well as I do..."

"_Don't tell anyone_," Jason recited, with a slight eye roll. They both always knew it was for the best, but it was hard sometimes. "I remember that all too well…" He paused a moment to think on something. "Hey, Tommy, how did Hayley find out about all of this?"

Tommy thought back before answering. "It was when Kat and I broke up…We were talking and got into one of our famous fights…I was yelling into the phone, saying that one of the only reasons we got together was because we were both Power Rangers and Hayley walked in and heard everything. It was kinda hard to deny it after she heard me say it. So I just explained everything to her…"

Jason nodded. "Must have been nice to share the secret…"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, it is nice…Hayley's great, she understands and it's so nice to just talk to her...But I keep getting this weird feeling..."

"What sort of weird feeling?" Jason asked curiously.

Tommy had never voiced this thought before, but this was Jason, he could trust Jason. So, at the risk of sounding like a teenager, he said, "I think she likes me…"

---------------------------------

"Hayley/.." Ethan began softly. "What…happened? Why did you act like that?" He asked his mentor.

"It's just a bad idea, I told you kids that already." Hayley crossed his arms over his chest.

"You don't have to act like such a bitch about it though!" Connor snapped, not holding anything back.

"She broke Tommy's heart!" Hayley retorted angrily.

Trent sighed in an almost dramatic fashion. "You don't even know her, Hayley-"

"Oh what's to know? I know enough!" Hayley's eyes narrowed.

Connor glared at her. "It was years ago, Hayley – things have changed for both of them. I really don't know what's wrong with you, but you really need to get your attitude in check!" And with that Connor turned on his heal and left, Ethan following right behind and Trent soon after – leaving Hayley to her thoughts.

---------------------------------

"Devin!" Cassidy called out, desperately banging on her best friend's door. She knew he was in there and she knew that he was avoiding her. He was her best friend though and she hated to think of him being upset with her, she just had to get him to talk to her. "Devin, please open the door! I know you're mad at me, but we need to talk!"

A few minutes later of begging for him to open the door her wish was granted.

"You wanna talk?" Devin's voice was deeper than usual, with traces of anger almost as though he had carved the anger into his speech with a knife.

Cassidy nodded quickly. In that moment she was a bit afraid of Devin. She had never seen him like this before and it both frightened and worried her.

"Go on." He leaned against the door frame, eyes flashing.

Cassidy took in a deep breath, trying to be strong and forcing herself not to cry, not right then in front of him. "Why are you mad?" She asked softly.

Devin let out a soft sigh, straightening his position and lowering his eyes for a moment. He looked a bit more like the old Devin now, though when he looked up there was still anger in his eyes. "I'm not mad at you." He clarified his tone softer now that he had seen how upset she really was. They were best friends, after all, no matter how hard she tried to hide it he still saw it.

Cassidy nodded slowly. "Then what's wrong…?"

"Do you really want to know?" He knew she'd nod, but he had to ask anyway. He ran his fingers through his hair and for a moment looked uncomfortable, awkward almost – though then he was straight backed once more, confident once again. "I'm jealous." He was being honest, she could tell by the look in his eyes.

"Jealous of what?" She didn't understand. Why would he be jealous?

"Of Ethan." He had wanted to pause before he spoke, though it came out quicker than he had meant for it to come. He supposed it was just a habitual reaction. He never lied to her, so he never really needed to pause before a response.

Cassidy's expression flicked to confused as he spoke, then to surprise and back to confusion. "Wait..." She began softly. "Do you mean…that you…." She trailed off; she couldn't finish the sentence, even if he had wanted to.

"I do." This time there was a pause before he spoke, yet his words still remained as true as ever. "Since fifth grade..." He added suddenly, seeing her mouth opening and predicting the question.

"Oh Devin…" Cassidy began softly.

Devin frowned, looking at her in an almost desperate way. "Cass…I just…I..." he sighed before going off. "I want to kiss you whenever I feel like it, I want to hold you as long as I want to, I want more than those simple little friendly hugs…I want to be with you all the time and not as a best friend…When I heard about you and Ethan… It broke my heart, Cass…" His expression faded away into an emotionless look, as though he had cried too many tears and spent too much time sad to even feel that way any more. Yet his eyes were still hurt, his eyes betrayed his mask.

"I'm sorry..." She didn't know what else to say. What else could she say? She was sorry, sorry for hurting him. But she cared about him as a friend and she cared about Ethan as more. She couldn't change the way her heart felt.

"It's not your fault…it would never have worked anyway…" Devin whispered, again his eyes were averted to the ground.

"Why not?" Cassidy tried to stop herself from asking, but it slipped out. She wanted to know, but she was afraid the question may just bring more pain.

Devin looked up at her once again, his eyes locking with hers. The intensity of his eyes almost terrified her, she wanted so badly to look away – but found herself frozen. "Because..." He began finally, after what felt like forever. "It couldn't have." When she moved forward to give him a hug he stepped back. "Not this time, Cass…Please, just don't make it hurt more..." His eyes looked almost pleading as he looked over at her. "Don't make it hurt more..." With those last words he shut the door, leaving Cassidy alone and staring at his closed door once again.

---------------------------------

"I'm really sorry about that, Kim – I don't know what got into her." Alex truly did look sorry and Kim gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry about it, Alex, not your fault." She laid a hand on his shoulder, eyes sparkling gently.

Alex sighed. "I know but still…"

"But still what?" Kim asked.

It was silent for a bit, aside from the soft founds of their shoes and the shoes of Kira, Connor, Ethan, Trent and Kelly – hitting the wood of the floor of the Reefside pier.

"I'm just so..." Alex began before freezing as out of nowhere about twenty-five Tyrannodrones appeared before them. "Scared." He finished quietly. His soft spoken word was like a bomb on the silent pier and once it was hear everyone, save for him and his small group, went running off. The five power rangers and the one ex-power ranger, stood ready to fight and Alex was a mixture of being too afraid to move and too stubborn to leave his friends.

It was the Tyrannodrones who went first, rushing and charging at the rangers. "Go!" Connor shouted almost automatically, sending the group forward, save for Alex.

Connor kicked a Tyrannodrone in the abdomen and sent it to the floor before turning and looking over at Kim as she tried to fight off a group of Tyrannodrones as well. "Go Kim! Get Alex and go!" He shouted. She was a former ranger, he knew that. But at the moment he and his friends were the rangers, it was their job to protect and at that moment Kim and Alex were the ones he was focused on protecting – seeing as everyone else was gone from the pier.

"Are you crazy!" Kim shouted back, pulling a few fast moves and tripping up two Tyrannnodrones. "There is no way in hell I'm leaving four teenagers here to fight these things!"

"Kim!" Kira called in exasperation, letting out a slight grunt as she was grabbed from behind. "We can handle this!" As if to prove her point she gave the one who had grabbed her, a sharp kick in the groin, sending the attacker to the ground.

"HELP!"

The cry caused all of the rangers (both current and former) to spin around on the spot.

"Alex!" Kelly shouted upon seeing her younger friend attempting to fight off the Tyrannodrones, yet getting no where. She tried to move forward, yet had one too many problems of her own to take care of.

"Hold on, Al!" Trent responded, inching closer bit by bit as much as he could while still fighting off his own little squad.

The ranger's attention shifted from Alex to their own attackers as they tried to fight them off to get to the helpless boy. Though it wasn't long before Kira was heard shouting Alex's name once more. This time when the rangers looked there was no Alex standing and trying to fight, he was instead laying knocked out on the ground, cuts and newly forming bruises covering his body and blood staining his clothes.

"Get him to the hospital! I've got it here!" Kim ordered over to Connor.

"No you don't!" The red ranger retorted. "You don't know what you're dealing with!"

"Oh right and you do." Kim's tone was sarcastic and instantly Connor opened his mouth to respond – yet was interrupted.

"Connor," Hayley's voice came in over his morpher. "Show her how you can help – please…Please just get Alex to the hospital..." Her voice was begging, pleading. She had lost her sister and brother-in-law, she wouldn't lose their nephew.

At the back of Connor's mind he realized that he had once again accidentally left the morpher on and he reminded himself that he really should stop doing that. But in that moment his forgetfulness concerning his morpher was the least of his worries. He looked around to make sure that all rangers had heard Hayley's orders and he nodded. "Dino Thunder, Power Up!" Kim looked over as she heard all of the current rangers shout the words in unison. She felt ready to faint as she suddenly saw the five new power rangers, though she barely had time to register any thoughts when Ethan spoke to her. "Get Alex to the hospital, we'll explain later, I promise!" He called from behind his mask. All Kim could do was nod and rush over to Alex.

---------------------------------

_Does God hate me? What did I ever do…what did I ever do wrong?_ Devin couldn't stop himself from asking the questions. He collapsed back onto his bed and looked at the papers spread over his covers. His mom had told him to read them over. 'To better understand', she had said. He understood alright and he thought it might just be better if he died right then and there. He didn't want to kill himself, oh no. It just seemed easier. He sigh as he sat up, pulling a paper over to him. He took a deep breath before reading aloud, "Living with Hodgkin's disease(1)."

---------------------------------

"Tommy! Jase!"

At the sound of Hayley's frightened voice both men quickly looked down at Tommy's morpher. "Hayley? What is it? What's wrong?" Tommy replied quickly.

"It's the rangers," Hayley's voiced seemed to be shaking slightly. Jason and Tommy exchanged a nervous glance as she continued. "They're being attacked at the pier. Alex was hurt – they had to send him to the hospital."

Tommy's face paled, as did Jason's. "How did it happen?" He was going to ask 'is he ok?', but then reasoned that if Alex was going to the hospital then no, he was not 'okay'.

"The rangers, Alex, and a friend were waking down the pier and they were attacked. Alex was knocked out – their friend took him to the hospital."

Tommy nodded, even though she couldn't see it. "He'll be alright, Hayley."

"I hope so..." She whispered, suddenly feeling horrible about the fight she had with her nephew earlier.

"I'm gonna go check on the rangers, Hayley I'm sending Jason over to take over the lab while you go to the hospital." The black ranger informed her.

"No."

Jason was already half-way out the door when he heard Hayley's voice again. "Why not?"

"I can handle things here, it'll keep me busy. Jason, could you go to the hospital to see him?"

"You sure-" Jason began.

"Yes! Now go! Both of you!" Hayley practically shouted.

"We're already gone..." Tommy whispered before he and his friend took off.

---------------------------------

"Excuse me," Jason carefully slipped past an old woman in a wheelchair before rushing over to the front desk of the Reefside Hospital. "Hi, I'm looking for an Alexander Roberts."

The young red-head behind the desk nodded and typed a few things into the computer infront of her. "Do you have any more information about Mr. Roberts, sir?"

Jason nodded. "A bit...He was attacked a little while ago and a woman named Kimberley Hart brought him in...That's all I know."

After a few seconds the receptionist nodded. "I found him." She said, looking up from her computer. "He's in room…" Her green eyes darted down to the computer just to double check her information. "209…" She filled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "Just show that to anyone who gives you trouble."

"Thanks." Jason took the pass from the younger woman. "Do you know how he's doing, by any chance?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir, but I don't have that kind of information and even if I did, I'm in no position to disclose it to you." The answer was so rehearsed it was almost sickening. "It says that he's in the care of a Miss. Hayley Burton…Now I could give that kind of information to her, but I really do doubt that you, sir, are Miss Hayley Burton."

Jason forced a small smile. "You've caught me…I cannot live the lie of pretending to be Miss Hayley Burton any longer..." He folded the pass in his hands absent-mindedly. "Thank you for your help though."

The receptionist gave him a smile before going back to work and Jason then turned and walked into the elevator. "I hate waiting." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest after pushing a button that read next to it 'Rooms 200-250'.

It was a few levels higher up than the main floor and Jason tried to wait patiently as the slow elevator rose. Finally, one floor away from his destination, the door opened. He began to straighten up, having been sitting in the corner with a pout on his face – very much like a child, when he heard his name.

"Jase." A soft voice whispered.

Jason looked up and almost fainted. "Kim."

---------------------------------

1-Hodgkin's disease is a highly curable form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes.

AN: Ok, Hope you like. Read, Review…and remember to review. You guys rock my socks. Hope you like where I am going with this…Tell me you're thoughts about it. I could really use some feedback.

BN: I hope you guys liked this chapter as well. Both me and the author have been working hard to bring this story to you and we truly do appreciate the reviews we receive. So thank you to :

**KatSuyA – **Thank you for that almost-sorta-not flame - It was our first and we loved it! So glad you like the story, Jill-friend hug

"**Ace"–** Thank you, we'll have to go back and fix that for poor Miss Kart…Yes you will get a cookie on Monday (or half of one anyway)…

**Slshadowfox – **Good eye there. Though you're right, the first thing on Kim's mind with meeting these kids would not be 'Hmm...I wonder if these are the power rangers'. At the moment she's still a little too caught up in her school idea and the fact that the power rangers are back again and in that town. Put yourself in Kim's place, you would never guess that they are rangers. In her mind, they have nothing to do with each other. And I do that all the time (Talk with talking) with my friends, and I'm not a ranger, just close to my friends.

**CamFan4Ever – **Thank you -

And

**Ghostwriter – **….I will try not to slam you….Kim and Tommy forever! In this story (as I'm sure you've noticed) Kat is dead. (I don't think that she's bad person, I only "killer" her off for effect. Kat is a great person, I personally think, that she isn't made for Tommy, but still a great person.) Thank you for the review, glad that you found our story again 

For reviewing the last chapter.


	12. And the truth comes out II

"W-what…what are you doing here?" Kimberley asked. She tried to keep her voice from shaking, tried to keep her cool, tried to act like seeing him wasn't like seeing a ghost. It wasn't as though they hadn't spoken in years – they did talk on holidays and birthdays. She just had never expected to go to Reefside and see Jason Scott!

Jason didn't answer. He was frozen, unknowing of what to say to her. He was afraid of what to say to her, afraid of her realizing what he hadn't said to her. He wished so badly to spill his heart out to his oldest friend – just about everything. From his house burning down, to the new power rangers, to living with Tommy, to just everything. Yet he couldn't. The kids had all worked so hard on getting her to come here – they had plans and he couldn't ruin that for them. "I..I'm here visiting my friend's nephew. She's stuck at work, I wanted someone to be here with him until she could get away."

Kimberley nodded, the smallest pinch of curiosity in her chocolatey brown eyes. She was still slowly surveying her old friend. He looked thinner than the last she had seen him and his eyes held more saddness than they once had. Yet other than that, he looked like the same old Jason – crisp natural tan, dark eyes, pitch black hair. "What um.." She slowly pulled herself back and away from memories of them in their youth. "What happened to him?"

"He.." Jason had always had trouble lieing – especially to his friends. "..was in an accident, earlier today." Well, it wasn't a _complete_ lie – there had been an accident. He was just withholding the details of the accident.

"Oh dear." Genuine concern and worry entered Kim's eyes. She gave her old friend a sympathetic look. "Is he alright?"

Jason wanted to shake her – because he knew that she knew exactly how Alex was. He decided then and there that he was too worried to bother searching around the hospital for Alex. He needed to know right then and there if the boy was going to be alright. "You tell me, Kimberly." Upon seeing her completely confused look he elaborated. "Alex! How is he? Is he alright?"

Kim was silent. Just by looking into those deep eyes of hers, he could see everything clicking itself together in her mind. "Oh…..So….Wait….You know about the Power-"

"Not now." Jason interupted. "First take me to Alex, we'll talk about the rest later – I promise."

Kim nodded. "Come on." She reached to grab his wrist, yet thought better of it. Already seeing him was like seeing a ghost to her and she was almost childishly afraid that if she touched him he'd disappear from her life again. So insteady, she waved her hand in a motion that told him to follow her into the elevator and away they went.

On an abandoned peir on the edge of Reefside was a group of very strange and special people. There were five teenagers and one adult and by the looks on their faces, someone had died. Of coarse perhaps someone had – this group has no way of knowing if their friend, Alex, was alright and they were all worried sick.

"What now, Dr. O?" Ethan looked over at his mentor, his leader and his friend – searching desperatly for answers. The rangers had gotten hurt before, though this was different. One of their friends had been badly hurt – because they, the protectors, couldn't do their job and protect him.

The adult sighed, looking around his group of clearly shaken up students. What could he do? All he wanted to do was take away all of their pain. This group was special to him – this group was different than any other team he had ever led. In past groups he had been at the same point in his life as his team members and suddenly, he wasn't. Instead, he was now watching them go through things he had once gone through – yet wasn't any longer.

He was now in a bit of a 'big brother' position and this was new for him. It did have it's downs, yet he wouldn't trade it for the world. He loved the group of teens as if he truly was their older brother. He'd put his life before their's anyday. No matter what was going on, he would _never _miss one of Kira's preformances or one of Connor's soccer games. He would _always_ make time to read one of Kelly's poems or look at Trent's latest masterpiece. He would even take the time out to just sit and listen to Ethan talk about video games or Cassidy or how his siblings annoyed him. _Ethan sure likes to talk_, Tommy mentally observed. Even when deep in thought he could hear the teen babbling on about things they could do.

"Alright," Tommy interupted and instantly it was silent – all eyes were on him. He was once again the leader. "This is what we're going to do. Trent, you are going to Hayley's – make sure everything is ok there. Once you're done, meet us at the hospital. You know how to reach me if you need to. Everyone else comes with me to the hospital to find Alex – Jason is there already."

As Tommy looked around, he suddenly realized just how young the group was. They weren't the experienced adult that he was. They were barely seventeen – Kelly wasn't even seventeen yet! She was still sixteen and barely that. Standing there, with fear in their eyes – they all looked so small. Yet admist the fear was determination. They were stronger than they seemed – he supposed being attacked on an almost daily basis does that to a person.

"Connor? Something wrong?" Tommy asked. The red ranger was usually the fearless leader, yet he seemed to be holding back. He was always true to his team. He would do _anything_ to make 'his' team better. It was a great quality, yet it scared Dr Oliver. He was afraid of how far Connor would go to beat the bad guy. Connor's the kind of kid that didn't handle making mistakes well. Tommy and Connor had spent hours practicing karate after soccer practice and he knew that Connor practiced even more when he got home. He was afraid the red ranger was going to over do it.

Connor cleared his throat, running his fingers through his hair. "Can I go home?" He was straight to the point. "I feel tired." He was a liar as well, Tommy knew that instantly.

"Go ahead." Tommy nodded to grant permission. "Call me later to let me know you're alright." The teen nodded before rushing off to his car, leaving his team behind.

"Do you think he's alright?" Ethan asked, new worry added now for his best friend. **Friendship:**the core of this team, the glue that held them together. Ethan was the glue. He was a friend to all, always there to whoever needed him. He could always put a smile on his friends faces, he could always just sit silently and listen to them talk to him. This made sure they all knew just how important and needed they were. Too bad he never paid attention to his own advice. He was continuously putting himself down, often forgetting just how important he was to team.

"None of us are." Kira spoke up quietly, though everyone heard her. "I'll go with him." The yellow ranger was normally a quiet person – an almost unknown in school. Yet, she was loud and proud when she needed to be. She spoke up for her friends and the team wouldn't be much without her. She had the common sense and logical thinking. And she would do anything to save her friends, anything at all.

"Go on, Kira. Meet us at the hospital if you can." Tommy instructed. She nodded before running after 'her man'.

"What's up with Connor?" Trent asked aloud, mostly to himself. He was the most secretive of all the rangers. He was always scared to expose himself to the outside world, as if it would eat him up and spit him back out – which it might have before, but that's no reason to close one's self off. Trent was scared to take a risk and if he didn't get over that, he'd be trapped by his fear forever.

"He was scared…" Kelly answered back. She was always answering back. She said what she wanted to and didn't care what people thought of that. It was great that she was so honest, yet Tommy hoped that her mouth wouldn't get her into trouble.

Tommy gave a forced smile to his students. "Connor will be fine." He reassured them. "Come on, let's go check up on Alex…"

Cassidy sighed and collapsed back onto her bed._'Since when did my life become a WB teen drama…' _she thought to herself. She forced herself into a sitting position and looked to her right. A wooden desk was pushed up against her purple painted bedroom wall. On the desk was books, a pile of papers and a picture of Ethan. He made her feel so beautiful, she forgot all her troubles when she was around him, it was like nothing in the world mattered but being with him. Turning her head to the left, on the exact opposite side of the room, was her dresser and on it sat a picture of Devin. She laughed at the memory of the photograph, it had been the day that he had lost his bathing suit in the ocean and wouldn't get out until she got him a new one. Devin was her best friend, she told him everything and he always knew just what to do to make her feel happy. Cassidy looked from one picture to the other. She had a decision to make about the two most important people in her life and she certainly wasn't looking forward to it.

Connor stared at Kira as she slipped into the passenger seat of his red convertible. "What are you doing?" He asked, sounding a bit rude, but he knew she wouldn't mind.

"I'm coming with you." Kira said as if it were obvious.

"To my house?" He inquired.

"If that's where you're going." She shrugged and leaned the chair back a bit, making herself comfortable.

The red ranger turned the keys to the ignition. "Don't you want to go check on Alex."

"Alex already has so many people who are there for him – you need someone too."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why you? Why you of all people? Why are _you_ here with _me_?"

"I'm your friend, Connor. I'll always be here for you."

He nodded slowly, not quite sure how to respond. "Thank you.."

"And Con.."

"Yeah?"

"I'm also here…because I care about you."

A slight smile crept onto his face and he pulled out of his parking spot, knowing exactly where they were going.

"Jason?" Kimberley began quietly, causing her friend to tear his eyes away from the sleeping Alex.

"Yes?" He answered, knowing what was coming before she even asked it.

"You knew…right? That I was going to be here…In Reefside.." It wasn't exactly a question. She knew he knew, he knew that she knew that he knew. She just needed to have her friend be truthful with her.

Jason nodded shamefully. "Yes."

"Why didn't you contact me? There is a completely new team of rangers and you didn't tell me! I had heard rumors of new rangers – but I never even dared to think that you were involved. I assumed that you would tell me and obviously I was mistaken!" She was close to shouting, she seemed quite mad yet Jason knew that in truth, Kimberley was simply hurting that her friend had concealed such important information from her.

"I didn't mean to lie Kim.." He began softly.

"Oh really? Then tell me Jason – why did you let Alex write a letter to me? Why not just call me? You know that if you ever needed me, you just need to call and I'd be there as soon as possible…"

"I didn't know they wrote you, Kim. I only found out after they had sent it." Jason explained to her calmly.

"And when was that?" She demanded, folding her arms angrily against her chest.

Jason averted his eyes. "Christmas." He said honestly.

Kim's eyes narrowed. "Before or after you called me?" Her voice was sharp and held none of the warmness usually associated with Kimberly. Everyone thought of her as the sweetie, the nice one – yet she could be awfully scary when mad.

The former red gulped audibly and whispered, "Before." He started hard at the ground, begging it to open up and swallow him whole.

"Then why!" It was obvious she was struggling to keep from biting his head off, yet her voice still hit upon a high pitch and upon hearing the yelling Alex began to stir.

He let out a soft moan and blinked his eyes open, looking around in slight confusion. His eyes landed on Jason and the beautiful woman standing next to Jason, the sight of her sent his memory in a blur – his eyes widening when he realized what had happened. "Hi.." He said quietly, alerting them to his presence.

"Alex!" Jason and Kim chimed in unison, rushing to his bedside. "Are you alright?" They again asked together, causing them to share a slight smile – despite the fact that Kim was still upset.

The hospitalized boy forced a small smile. "A little sore, I'll be fine though." For that rare moment sarcasm was absent from the usually ironic boy.

Jason nodded, "You had us all so worried.." He confessed.

Alex looked confused. "Us?"

Jason laughed and nodded. "Yeah, us : Connor, Trent, Kira, Ethan, Kelly, Hayley, Dr O, Kim and me…Us."

It was corny, but Alex did feel a little touched at the thought of how many people he had who cared about him. _If only I could manage to find someone my own age…_He thought before noticing that Jason had said 'Dr. O' rather than 'Tommy'. Now at any other time, Alex would've done something, said something, or thought something – but before he could he was asking questions. "Where are they? The other kids, I mean. Are they alright?"

Again Jason nodded. "They're fine…" He saw Alex's slightly hurt look and added. "They went to get Dr. O and your aunt – don't worry, they'll all be here soon."

Alex relaxed in relief and closed his eyes, leaning back against his pillow. "That's good.."

Using Alex's lack of attention to her advantage, Kim mouthed to Jason, 'He doesn't know?' This slightly shocked her because it seemed that the group was so close and she had figured Alex, of all people, would have known or at least put together the pieces.

Jason shook his head 'no' and jumped in surprise when the silence in the room was shattered by Hayley rushing in.

"Is he alright? Please tell me he's ok." She practically begged Kim and Jason for good news of her nephew.

"I'm fine, Aunt Hayley." Alex opened his eyes and forceed himself into a sitting position. He had forgotten that he was mad at her and was simply glad she was there with him.

She smiled and relaxed, walking over and embracing him as gently as she could. "Thank goodness." She whispered. "Jason did you talk to the doctor?"

Jason nodded. "Nothing's broken and he'll be able to go home soon. They just want to run a few more tests. But he'll be back to normal pretty soon." Hayley smiled her thanks and simply sat on the edge of the bed in silence, looking over Alex to check for any signs of injury.

The silence went on and Kim finally decided that this wasn't the place for her. "Jason," She began, causing all occupants of the room to look her way. "I need to get going back to my hotel … you know, stuff to unpack, people to call …"

"Oh..right.." Jason paused to think before continuing. "What're you doing tonight?"

Kim gave him a slightly suspicious look. "Nothing..why?"

"Just come over to my place and we can catch up and I'll explain everything." Jason told her as Alex smirked, figuring that Jason was going to set up Dr O and Kim.

"Sure.." she said slowly as he handed her a piece of paper with his address written on it. "That sounds nice…"

"So I'll see you at eight?" He asked, holding the door open for her.

Kim nodded, "I'll see you then. Goodbye Hayley, feel better Alex.."

"Kim!" Alex called out as she stepped out the door.

She retreated a bit into the room and smiled over at him. "Yes?"

All eyes were on Alex as he smiled a bit. "Thank you for being here with me … I know you didn't plan on this and I'm sorry for lying to you … But you should still think about opening a school here .."

Kim grinned and nodded. "I will, Alex, don't worry. We'll take about all this tomorrow when you're all fixed up."

Alex laughed a bit. "Ok – Jason will tell you how to reach me." He waved goodbye to her as she left and laid down, happily knowing that she wasn't mad at him. Yet, missing the angry and jealous look on Hayley's face as Kim shut the door.

"Here we are." Connor told Kira as he stepped out of his car.

Kira looked around in confusion. "You drove me to…a cliff…?"

Connor shrugged, smirking a bit. "You did say that you wanted to come."

"Yes, I know that…what I meant was why here of all places?"

"Let me show you.." He walked around the car and took her hand, pulling her gently towards the edge of the cliff.

Kira gasped as she looked at the scene of the beach from afar that laid out before her. "It's beautiful.." She whispered, gazing out at the stunning sight.

The red ranger nodded in agreement. "I know…I love it up here.."

After a few moments of silence Kira looked over at Connor. "So why didn't you want to go see Alex?" She asked, looking into his eyes.

He averted his eyes and sat on the ground. "I dunno.." He paused. "I just..I felt so scared in that moment..I guess I didn't want to face it."

"You were scared?" There wasn't so much shock in her voice as questioning. She looked down at him as she plopped down on the dirt next to him.

"Yeah – I was scared." Connor snapped, seeming to think she was demeaning him for being so. "We have never ever let anyone get hurt and the one time that someone does get hurt…it's Alex, it's our friend…We're the Power Rangers, damn it! We're supposed to be watching out for people and we let out own friend get hurt!"

Kira placed her hand on his arm. "Connor stop – it's not your fault. It wasn't any of our faults. We tried out best to keep him safe…And he's going to be ok, I promise you that."

Connor could't believe her at first and then he glanced up into her eyes and nodded, believing her.

The yellow ranger smiled and looked out at the sea. "How'd you find this place?"

Connor smiled. "Remember when we first became rangers?" She nodded. "Well, I was freaking out a bit … so I got in my car and drove and drove…Somehow I ended up here…ever since then I come up here whenever I need to think – which by the way I can do." He snapped.

Sheepishly she looked down. "I know you can, Con. I mean, you know that we're only joking when we say that stuff right?"

"Yes, I know that.." He sighed. "It's just that sometimes it hurts to feel like you're not as smart as everyone else … like you're worthless …"

"Connor, no no no! You are worth something! You do mean something! I mean…" She found herself moving a little closer to him. "You mean something to me.." She added quietly.

He hid a blush and looked into her eyes, the sparkle there saying that she was the most beautiful thing that had ever walked the earth. "Thank you, Kira.."

"You're welcome.." She told him gently.

"I don't mean.." He continued. "Just for that. I mean thank you for being there for me, for never leaving my side, for making me happier…for giving me a reason to live and become a better person…Cause, Kira, without you I wouldn't be half the person that I am today." With every word he grew closer and as he whispered his finish he reached up to gently move her hair behind her ear.

"Connor.." Kira whispered, caught up in the moment with him.

"Look." He said suddenly. "I don't care if you hate me for this, but I don't think I can go another second without touching the lips of the most beautiful woman in the world.." It happened so quickly, yet at the same time it was in slow motion. He closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss the girl of his dreams and the moment their lips touched, time stopped. For those ten seconds that the kiss lasted they were woven together in a perfect kiss. A kiss that was sweet and simple, yet still made you weak at the knees. It had just the right amount of tongue and percisly the right movement of their lips. It was as if they were the only two people alive, as if they were flying and never coming back down.

"That was … great." Kira whispered once the kiss was broken, a huge smile beginnin to grace her features.

Connor nodded. "Amazing." He agreed."

"Mind-blowing."

The red ranger laughed. "So…you don't hate me right?"

Kira sighed happily. "That's nowhere close to how I feel."

Connor smirked a bit. "How do you feel?"

"Like I want to kiss you again."

"You could…you could kiss me all the time if you were my girlfriend…" It was a bit of a statement and a bit of a question.

"Meaning that you would be my boyfriend, correct?" She questioned back, leaning in closer and covering his lips with her own once he nodded in agreement.

His arms wrapped around her and he laughed once their second kiss was broken. "You know, I think I could get used to this.."

"So can I.." She answered back, leaning against his chest as the two watched the sunset over the ocean.

AN: Wow, it's been way to long. Sorry for not updating in months. Well I'm back and loving it. I hope you liked this chapter. I enjoyed writing it (Mostly the last part.) I didn't know I was going to write that, it just came out as I was writing. I wanted to put something extra in this chapter and I hope I did. I guess I should say I don't own, Power Rangers (Disney does). I also don't own any "Teen dramas on the WB." And I want to thank my friends for encouraging me to write this. And I also have to give credit to Aerosmith's "I don't want to miss a thing.", which was playing as I wrote the Conner/Kira part. It put me in the romantic mood, which I hope came off as you read it.

BN : I want to apologize to the writer, I know this took me like two months to beta – I hope this is worth the wait. To all readers this is amazing chapter and I hope you like it, please review. Oh and my favorite quote is, "We're the Power Rangers, damn it!" That's just too cute lol. Enjoy. 3


	13. Everything will be Alright

AN/BN: Sorry for the long wait, I know we've kept you all on the edge of your seats This chapter starts fluffy and ends dramatic. Oh and it's longer than usual - enjoy

* * *

"Feeling better?" Kira asked Conner as she got back into the car.

"Of course, I feel like I could do anything in the world…now that I'm with you." Conner grinned as he gazed over at Kira.

"You know how corny that was, Mr. McKnight?" Kira asked, laughing her new boyfriend.

"Well, it's not my fault that I just got together with the smartest, most beautiful girl in the world."

"Oh, really? Who would that be?"

"You don't know her," he smirked.

"So why don't you tell me about her?"

"Hmm…alright…well you take every romantic movie, song and poem and you combine them all together. Then you add those cheesy Disney movies, and you wouldn't even come close to how breathtaking this girl is." He whispered, taking her hand.

"Wow," Kira blushed lightly. "She must be some girl."

"She's so much more then just some girl."

Kira laughed, smiling at her boyfriend. "When did you become to so sweet?"

He looked into her eyes, smiled and said "The moment I looked into your eyes, after you told me that you cared…Something happened that moment. I can't really explain it, but it was….magical." He told her, pulling back a little in slight embarrassment, hardly being able to believe the things he was saying.

"Well," Kira gave him a slightly seductive smile. "I like the sweet side of you." She leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss.

"I can get use to that." Conner said with a wide smile as he put the keys into the car.

"So can I, so can I." Kira slipped back into her own seat, smiling contentedly as they drove.

* * *

"No, Kira...Kira, no...Don't come to the hospital. That's right. Yeah, just meet us at the Hayley's." 

"Are you sure, Jason?" He heard her speak into the phone.

"Yes I am. They're letting Alex out and then we're heading over. There's no point in you coming here. Everything is fine I promise."

Kira sighed. "If you say so, boss."

"I do. Plus I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

Jason smiled as he heard the worry enter the young girl's voice. "I'm going to tell you at Hayley's. Stop worrying, it's not big deal."

"And this supposed no-big-deal is something that you can't tell me over the phone?"

"Well, what's the fun in that?"

"Funny, real funny." Kira rolled her eyes, yet smiled at Jason's antics. She sometimes wondered who the adults were and who the immature teenagers in their group were.

"What's funny?" Jason heard Conner asking Kira.

"Nothing, Conner." Kira answered, batting him away. "Eyes on the road!"

Jason laughed as he heard Conner sigh obnoxiously. "So how is Conner?" Jason asked, slightly concerned after hearing what the other rangers told them when they got to the hospital.

"Conner is fine." Kira happily told him.

"Conner is awesome." Conner yelled into the phone.

"Alright then Kira and Awesome Conner, I'll see you both soon." Jason answered back laughing.

"Bye Jason," Kira laughed back.

"Wait, don't hang up!" Conner input quickly.

"Hold on, Jase." Kira said into the phone and then looked at Conner, "What's up, Con?"

"I…just wanted to know" Conner pulled the car over and looked at Kira. "…if I could talk to Alex."

"Did you get that?" Kira asked into the phone.

"Yea, tell him to hold on." Was Jason's reply.

* * *

"Who was that?" Alex asked, glancing up as Jason walked back into the room. 

"Kira and Conner. Kira says hi and Conner wants to talk to you" Jason passed the phone to Alex before leaving the room to give the boys privacy.

"Hey, Conner." Alex said.

"Hey, buddy. How are you holding up?" Conner asked, worry hidden underneath a confident voice.

"I'm fine. I just can't wait to get out of here." Alex laughed softly.

"That's good; you're too cool to be in a hospital room anyway."

Alex rolled his eyes but laughed along with Conner. "Thanks."

"So…you swear everything is ok?" The red ranger repeated, just to make sure.

"Yes, Conner, everything is fine. I swear." Alex smiled, hearing the worry in Conner's voice.

"So, I'll see you at Hayley's?"

"Yup."

"Do you need anything that I can stop and pick up or something?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "No, Daddy, I'm ok. I'll see you soon."

"See ya." Conner hung up the phone and handed it back to Kira with a grin, glad that Alex was ok.

* * *

"You know that you could have waited till you saw him to tell him that right?" Kira asked Conner, slipping her cell phone back into her pocket. 

"I know….but…I wanted to make sure he's ok." Conner said as he turned on the car and got back onto the road.

"Conner," Kira glanced over at him. "You know that him getting hurt isn't your fault right?"

"I know," He sighed. "But part of me can't help but feeling guilty. I let my friend down. I'm supposed to be watching over him and I didn't. Alex and me, we've…"

"Alex and I" Kira corrected automatically..

Conner laughed. "Fine, Alex and I...we've gotten close since he's come here. We aren't best friends or anything, but we connect. We can talk about stuff, ya know? We can talk about our parents, like I tell him about my parent's divorce and he talks about parent's deaths. He tells me about his girl problems, I tell him about mine. I have no clue, why he even talks to me, I mean the kid is way smarter then I'll ever be." Conner laughed again. "But, for some reason, he trusts me. He's like the little brother I never had. I mean, not counting my brother, Eric, since he's all the way in Harbor Bay with my dad. I only see him a few times a year. But, Alex, he's right here and I feel like it's my job to look out for him…it's my job and I failed! I feel like I let him down. He got hurt because I wasn't watching him. I hate feeling like this, it just sucks." He sighed as he finished, looking over at her, eyes like those of a helpless puppy.

Kira reached her hand over, giving his shoulder a gentle massage. "Before I say anything else, Conner, I first have to say that I think that that is the most I have ever heard you say." She said causing them both to smile. "Second, I don't think Alex feels like you let him down and right now just be there for him whenever he needs it. I'm sure that's all he wants. You didn't let him down."

"I guess," Conner said, sounding unsure.

"You want to know something else?"

"What?" Conner looked over at his girlfriend.

"That was really sweet. The call and what you just said. It was kinda cute."

"Not as cute as you." Conner said, trying to hold down a blush.

Kira gave him a mockingly suspicious look. "Are you sure that you're not someone else pretending to be Conner McKnight? I mean, what happened to the stupid jock that I once knew?"

"I'm still a stupid jock!" Conner said defensively, not thinking before he spoke. "Wait…that's not what I meant…I'm not…you know what…nevermind."

"Conner McKnight, you are one of a kind." Kira told him in between her laughs.

Conner smirked, giving her cheek a kiss. "And proud of it, babe."

"Conner, how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

* * *

"They were worried about you." Jason said causing Alex to smile. It felt nice to have people worrying about him, as bad as that sounded. 

"Well, I don't really blame them. I would worry about me too." Alex joked, flashing a cocky smile.

"Sounds like someone is feeling all better." Ethan piped in from where he was sitting in Alex's room. The group was all set to go; they were just waiting for Hayley and Kelly to come back from the bathroom. For some reason, that the men could not fathom, girls always went to the bathroom together.

"Speaking of how you're feeling…um…how are you feeling?" Trent asked, still worried.

"Fine. Not liking the cuts and bruises, but I think I'll live." Alex smiled at Trent, causing the other boy to smile back. "But to make sure that I'll live, Jason can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?" Jason asked curiously.

"Can you give me give me marital arts lessons? I know that your dojo isn't going to open up for a few months, but I would like them soon, you know, if you can." Alex eyes moving from Jason to his folded hands. "It's just…I want to be prepared…in case…it happens….again." Alex added, half scared and half worried.

"Of coarse it's ok. We'll get started as soon as you want to." Jason smiled at the boy.

* * *

"Hi, I'm here to pick up, Julie Scott." Tommy said to the receptionist at Happy Smiles Daycare. 

"And you are? Not anyone can just come and pick up a child, you know." The college student asked rudely.

"Thomas Oliver, I should be on the pick up form." He answered, still holding in place his smile, not wanting to be rude.

She sighed and popped her bubblegum. "Ok, let me check the files." She said walking very slowly to the file cabinet.

"Just take your sweet time." Tommy muttered, forcing himself not to tap his foot impatiently.

"You're right." She sounded annoyed by this fact. "Your name is the list; you may go in and pick up your child." She added, emotionlessly.

"Ohh, thanks." Tommy turned and walked into the next room.

An instant after he entered he heard, "TOMMY!"

He looked down and laughed at the little girl who had attacked his legs once he had walked in. "Hey, Julies." He said, leaning down. "Ready to go home?"

She nodded excitedly, pigtails bouncing as she ran over to get her things together. Tommy smiled and waited silently at the door, glancing around the room. His smile took on a wistful quality as he watched the little children playing in their groups. The vision blurred as he became lost in his own world. As he thought of his future, of being married and being a father to a bunch of children.

His daydream was interrupted by a tugging at his pant leg. "Tommy, I'm ready." Julie said proudly, a small pink book bag now on her back.

"Then off we go!" Tommy said, picking her up in a quick fluid motion that drew giggles out of the little girl.

* * *

"Well, he looks much better." Ethan commented as he walked into Hayley's and saw his best friend. 

"Better? Was something wrong with him before?" Alex wondered as he came in behind Trent and Ethan.

Trent glanced behind him at Alex. "He sort of freaked out when you got hurt."

"He did?" Alex's eyes widened in slight shock. To him, Conner McKnight was the type of guy that didn't get scared. It was so strange to think that Conner had been worried. Even more so, that he, Alex, was the reason.

"Don't look so surprised, kiddo." Kelly him put her hand on his shoulder, causing Alex to jump, forgetting she was behind him.

"I'm…not" Alex replied weakly, looking up at her before looking back to Conner.

"Come on, slow pokes!" Trent said with a laugh as he pushed Kelly and Alex towards Conner and Kira, Ethan following with a grin. The four of them walked over to the table laughing the entire way. They reached the table without Conner or Kira noticing their existence. Ethan smirked as he let a loud coughing sound to get their attention.

The pair jumped and spun around. "Oh, hey!" Conner said sheepishly. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked, looking up at his friends.

"Oh, not that long. Just like the past hour or so." Ethan joked.

"Ha ha ha, very funny, Ethan." Kira glared at the blue ranger.

"Why, thank you, very much." He replied, complete with a bow and imitation of Elvis' voice. The combination caused everyone to laugh.

As the laughing died down and the group took their seats, Alex looked at Kelly and asked "Are you sure they aren't going out?" in a semi-whisper that everyone could hear.

"Yes, I'm sure. Conner and Kira are not going out." Kelly sighed, tired of answering this same question every day at school from various classmates.

At her words, Conner and Kira looked at each other and broke into laughter. The others sent confused glances to their team mates before looking back to the laughing couple.

"It's not _that_ funny, you guys. Are the two of you ok?" Trent asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, I think that they are just fine." Jason said, walking in the room with a knowing look on his face.

"And how do you know?" Kelly asked, a curious sparkle in her eyes.

"Well, for one, the fact that the two of them are holding hands." Conner and Kira looked down at their hands on the table realizing that they never let go. They quickly let go and started to turn redder than Conner's power ranger suit.

"So Jason, when did you get here?" Kira asked, pointedly ignoring his comment.

"Just now." Jason began. "I would've been here sooner but I was parking the car. The problem was that I couldn't find a parking space. So I had to park all the way at the end of the street. Did you know that it's really cold outside? I felt like I was going to freeze walking here. But I guess you wouldn't know, since apparently, it's much **hotter** in here." He smirked, resulting in the rest of the, still confused, teens to laugh.

"So….what's goin on you two?" Trent asked the couple, clearly wanting to know what was going between the two of them. His eyebrow arched as a smirk began to make its way onto his face.

"Well..." Conner started, glancing at his girlfriend.

"Conner and I…we're…" Kira continued slowly.

Kelly gasped and leapt from her seat. "Oh my god!"

Kira blushed and laughed as Kelly ran over and grabbed her hands.

"You mean..." Kelly began.

Kira nodded. "Yea!"

"So you guys..."

"We are."

"After..."

"I know!"

"Can you..."

"No I can't!"

"This is..."

"Awesome, I know!"

Kelly let out an excited squeal before pouncing on Kira and giving her a tight hug. Kira laughed, hugging her friend back.

Ethan cleared his throat. "Well...since I don't speak girl very well-"

"Yeah, you only speak geek." Conner interrupted with a smirk.

"Haha." Ethan rolled his eyes, smiling at his friend. "Funny, Red. But enough about me, more about you…and your…girlfriend?" He asked.

Conner took Kira's hand and nodded. "Yup, that's right boys – she's off the market, she's mine."

Laughter and congratulations followed his words, along with Jason muttering "finally!"

Alex laughed at Jason's words before looking at the couple. "So...how did it happen?" He wondered. As he looked at them Alex felt some hope enter him. He had watched his friends flirt and date and find love and he always felt a little left out, why couldn't he have that? But now that these two had finally found each other, Alex felt like maybe that could be him in a while.

Aside from feeling hope he also felt happy, happy for Conner. He had never told anyone, but he looked up to Conner. He hadn't even told Conner, but he thought of the red ranger as a big brother. The others were great as well, of course! Ethan was a good friend who Alex could always joke around with. Trent was a good friend too, ignoring their little spat at their first meeting. Kira and Kelly were great, but they were girls. Just watching them giggle, more so from Kelly, and whisper now had him confident that he couldn't ever talk about boy stuff with either of them. But with Conner, there was something special. Even if the soccer player was an airhead at times, Alex felt like he could look up to the older boy because Conner was always there to listen.

Conner shrugged. "It just sort of did." He said with a laugh. "One minute we're talking and looking at the sunset."

"How romantic." Kelly whispered to Kira.

"And," Conner continued, not having heard anything. "The next thing we knew…we were kissing..."

"It was… Perfect." Kira put in, having no other way to explain the fairytale moment.

Trent smiled, he too was happy for the couple. It may seem weird to some, that he was happy that his ex-girlfriend and his friend were dating. But he was. He cared about them both so much and had watched them flirting with each other for way too long. It was about time they got together. "I'm so happy for you guys." The white ranger finally said, running his fingers through his hair before setting his hand down on Kelly's shoulder, now that she was seated next to Kira. The two shared a brief look before smiling and looking away. "We all are." He added confidently.

Ethan nodded, leaning back in his chair. "So while all of us were in the hospital visiting the poor beaten Alex..."

"Hey!" Alex interjected indignantly, folding his arms and pouting mockingly.

Ethan smirked and continued, ignoring the comment. "So as I was saying, while we were visiting the poor beaten Alex, you two were off conoddling and being David Beckham and - "

Kira glared daggers at Ethan. "If you finish that sentence I swear, Ethan, I'll..."

The group burst into laughter, cutting off Kira's threat to the blue ranger.

Kelly stood up. "I have to go to the bathroom. You coming, Kira?"

"Yea, sure." Kira stood up, giving Conner's hair a playful tug before she went off with the pink ranger towards the girl's room.

Conner sighed softly, a dreamy look on his face as he watched his girl go off.

"See ya, Posh!" Ethan shouted, earning a dirty look from Kira before Kelly dragged her into the bathroom.

"Oh you will pay for that, Ethan." Conner told his best friend.

Ethan laughed. "Please, you are gonna make me pay Mister," He batted his eye lashes and took on a girly voice. " 'It was magical!' "

Conner gave Ethan's arm a punch. "No." He said with a gentle glare. "But that sexy and beautiful girlfriend of mine will." He added with a smirk.

"Traitor." Ethan hissed, rubbing his arm.

"Whipped traitor." Jason added, earning a blush and a glare from the red ranger.

"I am not whipped." Conner muttered.

Jason laughed, looking over to the door. "I wonder what Kira's telling Kelly about you."

"Huh?" Conner's face screamed confusion.

Jason cracked up laughing. "You didn't think they actually had to pee did you? Oh, Conner. You have so much to learn." Conner still looked bemused, after all why would someone go to the bathroom if they didn't have to pee?

The group laughed until they were interrupted by Hayley coming in through the back door, carrying a bunch of boxes. Trent stood up quickly, unable to stop his gentleman instincts. "I'm gonna go give her a hand before she hurts herself." He said with a smile before walking over to his boss.

Conner nodded and watched the white ranger take off. Conner loved that about his friend, how willing Trent always was to help anyone in need.

"It's 6:45." Alex's words interrupted Conner's thoughts. "Jay, I thought you were going to meet Kim?" He asked in confusion.

"Oh...right...that…um." Jason stood up. "Yeah, I'm not going….Anyone else want something to drink? No. Well I need a root beer." With that Jason took off and slipped behind the counter to get himself a drink.

"Hey!" Ethan got up and chased down the former ranger, Alex moved to follow but Conner grabbed his arm.

"Alex wait.." Conner began. "Don't think I forgot about you." He motioned for Alex to take the seat across from him.

"Forgot?" Alex took the seat, looking confused.

"You know…you passing out…the pier…getting attacked…that stuff..."

"Oh...that." Alex looked down, cheeks reddening.

"Alex, no, don't be ashamed. It wasn't your fault. Those things are crazy strong! And there were like a gazillion of them! I even had trouble fighting them all off." Conner admitted honestly.

"Conner…it is pretty embarrassing…when all of you guys could handle things and I was the only one who couldn't." Alex sighed, head hung low.

"Alex..." At times like these Conner hated hiding his secret. It would be so much easier to just say 'well we're the power rangers, we deal with this every day!' rather than making up other things to say. "We've all had some physical training before. I've done soccer since I could walk. Kira did karate when she was younger, something about her parents wanting her to socialize with someone her age. Ethan was being bullied so he had personal lessons from Dr. O and Jason. When Kelly found out she decided it would be fun to learn too. Kim's a World Famous Gymnast. And Trent's just crazy!" He added, giving an insane edge to his voice when he said the last bit, earning a laugh from Alex. Conner smiled and continued. "Even with all that, we wouldn't have lasted too much longer if those Power Rangers hadn't shown up. So don't think that any of us think any less of you. If anything, we're proud of you and we all look up to you for putting up a good fight. I promise."

"Really? You promise?" Alex looked over at his friend, his mentor.

Conner smiled and nodded. "Yup I promise…besides." He looked away. "If this is anyone's fault…it was my fault. I should have watched out for you…I'm so sorry."

Alex shook his head violently. "No, Conner. This wasn't your fault at all. It wasn't anyone's fault. You were busy defending yourself."

Conner opened his mouth to say how it was his job to protect others not himself when Alex reached over and hit him over the head. "Ow!" Conner looked up in surprise and grabbed his head.

Alex sighed. "I'm sorry but you needed that. This wasn't anyone's fault, especially not yours."

Conner smiled. "Ok. So...we're good now?"

Alex laughed. "We were never bad."

Conner stood up, ruffling Alex's hair. "Come on, let's go find out what Jason has planned." The red ranger turned and Alex followed as they walked over and took a stool each at the bar where Jason and Ethan were talking.

"So what did you mean, you're not meeting Kim?" Conner asked.

"You're not meeting Kim?" Kelly and Kira asked in union as they approached the bar.

Jason sighed and shook his head. "Well….no" He smiled as he saw each teen hanging on his every word. "I felt bad that your plan was ruined, so...I came up with my own." The teens smiled approvingly. "Kim's going to meet me Tommy's house, which she believes is my house. The thing is that I won't be there...but Tommy will." A few gasps sounded from the group. "It could be either really good or really bad; we'll have to wait to find out."

Kelly looked ready to hug Jason. "That's so sneaky!" She exclaimed, obvious pride in her eyes.

Jason laughed, turning as Trent walked in and asked, "Wait...so you aren't going back at all?" He apparently had been listening from the back.

"Oh I'll go back," Jason assured. "Around midnight." He added with a grin.

Kira shook her head. "They are going to kill you."

Jason smirked. "And you're all going down with me."

* * *

Tommy hummed softly, scooping out vanilla ice cream into a Disney princess bowl for Julie. He lifted his head, hearing the soft 'ding-dong' of the doorbell. "Julie," He called out softy. "Go ask who it is, but don't open the door. Just tell them I'll be right there." 

Julie, who had been quietly watching cartoons in the other room, got up and nodded. She skipped happily into the hall, pausing when she noticed the open door and the confused woman standing in the doorway. "Hi!" She piped up in a perky voice. "I'm Julie, who are you? I think I know you but I don't know your name."

The woman smiled, reaching out to shake the little girl's hand. "Hey Julie, my name is Kimberly, but you can call me Kim. You met me once before, but you probably don't remember, you were only three years old at the time and look at you now, such a lovely young lady."

The young girl smiled. "Thank you, Miss Kim….Oh!" She suddenly looked very excited. "I saw you in a picture!"

"Your daddy has a picture of me?" Kim asked with a smile.

Julie shook her head. "No, not my daddy-" She opened her mouth to reveal the name when she was interrupted.

"Julie, good lord, how many times have I told you?" Tommy said, walking into the hall, sounding slightly stern. "You don't open the door for anyone, that's just plain dangerous. It's like getting into a car with a stranger."

The young girl rolled her eyes. "But Uncle Tommy, the door was already open!" She insisted.

"Tommy." Kim whispered, gasping softly as she looked at the man in front of her.

The man in question looked at their guest for the first time and stumbled backwards. "Kim..."

For a while the two just stood like that, frozen in time, staring blankly at each other. Their breaths were silent, yet their hearts were beating a hundred miles an hour. Julie cleared her throat to break the awkward silence. "So...can Miss Kim stay for ice cream?"

* * *

AN: So this is my 1st chapter in like 2 years. I'm so sorry that it took so long. It got lost in the many things that happened in my life. I will finish this. I promise, if it's the last thing I do. So, I don't know own Power Rangers. Disney does. The Beckman quote is from a PRDT episode. I hope you liked this chapter. I love the Kira/Conner part. I decided to give Conner and Alex a brother-type relationship I have no clue why. I guess it felt right after he freaked out last chapter. It would explain more about it and I wanted to show more of Conner in a caring light, that didn't have to do with Kira. Preview for next chapter: Tommy&Kim, Jason&Ethan comparing notes, definitely a Trent/Kelly scene, Conner&Devon talk and Hayley&Alex reflect that day (Cause the past chapters And the next one have all been the same day.) Wow, I'm writing a lot. Let me stop now.

BN: Here we are Sorry for the wait, I think this chapter is worth it. Then again I'm biased. To our reviewers thank you to LightTigher86, redandblack4eva, Silver Warrior, dude..where my car, magicgirl45852, and DTDragonRanger. Keep reviewing; it encourages us to trudge on.


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